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After a tense legal back-and-forth, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled their dispute stemming from their work on It Ends with Us. While Lively later pursued damages and legal fees, that portion of the saga is over now that a judge has ruled that Lively is entitled to the fees but not the damages. Statements shared by both parties suggest that they’re looking to move forward from the situation. In the interim, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, is weighing in on that settlement and what he viewed as its most vital component.
Freedman’s been vocal throughout the case and, after the settlement came down, he said Baldoni (42) was feeling “ecstatic” about settling with Lively (38). The attorney recently spoke with Fox News Digital and recalled that the settlement was set in motion after a phone call “out of the blue” from Lively’s legal team on a Friday night. Now, in Freedman’s estimation, the most “important” aspect of that legal accord was that it allowed Baldoni, and others facing claims from Lively’s camp, to talk out the allegations they were facing:
I think when you settle a case and your client was sued for 15 claims, of which two are dismissed by the other side voluntarily, 10 of the remaining 13 are dismissed by the court — and those involve sexual harassment and defamation — I think it's really important that the clients be able to speak about that. Because otherwise, you know, they're forever branded as being accused and responsible for that. And it was important that they be able to speak about the fact that in summary judgment that the court dismissed those claims against them and that they paid nothing for the remaining claims to be resolved.
The Lively/Baldoni legal situation began in December 2024, at which point Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on the set of It Ends with Us. Both actors starred alongside each other in that film, which Baldoni co-directed. Additionally, Lively alleged that Baldoni launched a smear campaign against her with the aid of a PR firm. Eventually, the Shallows also filed suit against Baldoni, Jamey Heath (the head of Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios) and others for alleged offenses.
Baldoni vehemently denied the claims made against him and sued The New York Times – which first published the news of Lively’s legal complaint – for $250 million. He also countersued Lively, Ryan Reynolds (Lively’s husband) and others for the sum of $400 million. The Jane the Virgin alum filed suit on the basis of alleged defamation and extortion amongst other offenses.
Eventually, both Baldoni and Lively saw wins and losses as the legal battle went on. During the summer of 2025, both of Baldoni’s multi-million-dollar lawsuits were dismissed, marking a win for Lively. Earlier this year, however, Baldoni saw a legal victory when a judge threw out 10 of the 13 claims Lively leveled against him. It was shortly thereafter that Lively and Baldoni reached their settlement but, even after that, their respective legal teams engaged in a war of words regarding which side received the optimal outcome.
Most recently, after Lively’s favorable ruling involving the attorney’s fees, her lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Ersa Hudson released a statement and said they were “gratified” over the results. From their vantage point, “ruling makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith” and also proved there was “no evidence she acted with malice.” But Bryan Freedman later argued that Lively and co. “failed,” because she “was only awarded limited attorney fees for a single claim as part of a case that lasted only a matter of months.”
Some may continue to debate who came out with the better deal (though some analysts have argued that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s lawyers were the true winners of the case due to the money they earned). As of right now, the public isn’t privy to the details regarding how much money Baldoni will have to play Lively. Regardless of that, based on Freedman’s comments, he appears to be pleased with how the settlement turned out.
