By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The bitter public feud between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni may outlive their court fight after all.
Three days after announcing a settlement of the lawsuit brought by Lively over the 2024 film “It Ends With Us,” her lawyers put out a statement Thursday calling the deal a “resounding victory.”
“By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively,” attorneys Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said.
They were alluding to the tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and penalties that a judge could make the defendants pay for costs incurred by Lively when Baldoni filed a countersuit that was ultimately tossed out by U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman last June. That complaint accused Lively, her husband — “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds — and their publicist of defamation and extortion.
In newly filed legal papers, Lively’s lawyers said the law requires “severe and mandatory penalties against any party who files unsuccessful retaliatory defamation actions against sexual harassment and retaliation complainants.”
They also said that by recognizing in a statement issued by both sides Monday that Lively’s concerns “deserved to be heard,” Baldoni and the other defendants “have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively ‘fabricated’ claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
Her aim was always to “expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” the attorneys said. “That mission continues.”
Attorney Bryan Freedman countered that the Baldoni camp considers it “a win and total victory.”
Freedman said the court already threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims and she “voluntarily dismissed the rest.”
“In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court,” Freedman said. “All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025.”
Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company, filed in December 2024, alleged that she and other women were subjected to sexual harassment on the movie set when Baldoni commented on their bodies and discussed personal sexual experiences and pornography.
The sexual harassment claims were recently thrown out by Liman, but he left some retaliation claims intact for a trial. The judge concluded that Lively could not assert sexual harassment because she was an independent contractor rather than an employee during the filming.
The settlement of the remaining claims, announced Monday, was formally entered into the court record Thursday. The terms were not disclosed.
“It Ends With Us” is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into domestic violence. It exceeded box office expectations with a $50 million debut, but the release was shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
Lively previously appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy ” Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.