On a Monday afternoon at three o’clock, Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave engaged in a conference call with Blake Lively’s legal team. An hour later, she connected with Justin Baldoni’s attorneys for a similar discussion.
The focal point of these conversations? Assessing the potential for settling their ongoing legal battle over the film “It Ends With Us.” This dispute has unfolded over the past 16 months, both in Manhattan’s courtrooms and amid public discourse.
Just the previous week, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed ten out of the thirteen claims Lively had filed, including the allegation of sexual harassment. What remains are claims of breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting in retaliation.
Following this ruling, Lively, aged 38, released a comprehensive statement expressing her gratitude for the court’s decision. She highlighted, “I’m grateful for the Court’s ruling which allows the heart of my case to be presented to a jury next month, and for the ability to tell my story in full at trial.”
In a similar vein, shortly after the settlement conference calls early in the week, Lively’s legal representatives submitted a letter to the court, reiterating their commitment to proceed with the case.
In it they asked that Baldoni’s lawyers tell them who of the defendants released from the case when those ten claims were dismissed – including Baldoni who cannot therefore be subpoenaed – would be testifying at trial in person.
For the record, Baldoni’s lawyers have stated that he will testify in person – along with the movie’s producer, Jamey Heath, and publicist, Melissa Nathan.
And so, the circus rolls on. Of course, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a settlement is reached ahead of the May 18 trial date. But, the truth is that, should the case move forward to trial, and should Lively win the day, any victory now seems destined to be somewhat pyrrhic.
Attorneys for Justin Baldoni, (pictured with wife Emily outside Manhattan’s Federal Court), have said he will testify in person should the 16-month legal battle with Blake Lively go to trial
Judge Lewis Liman dismissed ten of the 13 claims being brought by Blake Lively – including that of sexual harassment
Within hours of that ruling Lively, 38, released a lengthy statement
One Disney Studios executive who once worked with the actress told the Daily Mail: ‘This lawsuit has ruined her in Hollywood… the truth is she was never that popular. She had a reputation for being difficult, one of those toxic people who always thinks she knows best.’
Indeed, she is on record as claiming that her talent is being able to take a script and ‘excavate’ it – carve out something far superior to the original. It’s what she boasted she and husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, did with key scenes in It Ends With Us.
But when it comes to projects from her own production company, B for Effort, the Daily Mail has learned that not one single film has been seen through to fruition since the company launched in March 2020.
Now, our Hollywood source said: ‘The general view now is that she’s made her bed and she can lie in it. I don’t think people in Hollywood are shedding tears over her.’
Not so long ago, Lively seemed to have it all. Beautiful, happy and healthy, she was both an in-demand screen siren and a devoted mother to four children.
With her handsome husband beside her, she formed half of one of Hollywood’s hottest couples: the pair is worth an estimated $600 million, thanks to Reynolds’s wildly successful Deadpool series and their myriad telecoms, sporting and drinks deals.
Then, on December 31, 2024, Lively sued Baldoni, co-star and director of It Ends With Us which was released that summer.
Her original suit accused him of sexual harassment on set. He counter sued in early January 2025, accusing her of waging a calculated campaign against him to bolster her case. The parties denied the allegations against them.
Truth be told, it was apparent from the start that something was decidedly off. When Lively and Baldoni embarked on promotional duties it was as if they were talking about different movies.
Lively, dressed in a dazzling array of fashion-forward floral outfits, in a nod to her florist character Lily Bloom, discussed at length how it was an uplifting story of resilience and survival.
Baldoni, 42, saw it as a dark, complex saga of domestic abuse – the filming of which, he said, left him with ‘a near breakdown.’
The discord leaked through as the pair promoted the film separately, studiously avoiding being photographed together at premieres, and appearing solo on chat shows.
Even screenings were segregated: Baldoni and his wife Emily in one theatre, and Lively, Reynolds and the rest of the cast in another.
The controversy didn’t seem to hurt the movie at the box-office: despite mixed reviews, it raked in $350 million worldwide on a $25 million budget, making it a resounding commercial success.
But that front-of-house triumph couldn’t halt the train wreck behind-the- scenes.
On December 20, Lively filed a complaint with the California civil rights division alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.
As a pair, Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds are worth an estimated $600 million, thanks to his wildly successful Deadpool series and their myriad telecoms, sporting and drinks deals
On December 31, 2024, Lively sued Baldoni, co-star and director of It Ends With Us, which was released that summer
Even screenings were segregated: Baldoni and his wife in one theatre, and Lively, Reynolds and the rest of the cast in another
The following day, The New York Times published a deeply reported survey of the case, featuring private messages Baldoni had sent to Lively and revealing that Sony Pictures had allowed Lively to commission her own rival edit of the film, featuring Taylor Swift’s music. Sony used her edit and granted her a producer credit.
There was a row about an intimacy coordinator for the sex scenes, and the paper reported that Baldoni had hired a crisis PR expert, Melissa Nathan, to try and discredit Lively.
Nathan, in text messages cited in the court documents, suggested to Baldoni a strategy of ‘full social account take downs,’ beginning with ‘threads of theories’ and helping to ‘change narrative.’
A publicist working for Baldoni and the studios texted Nathan: ‘He wants to feel like she can be buried.’ Nathan replied: ‘You know we can bury anyone.’
Lively told the paper: ‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.’
Baldoni was dropped by his talent agency William Morris Endeavor the day the article was published. He and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, hit back.
On New Year’s Eve – the day Lively filed her suit against him in Manhattan’s federal court – Baldoni sued the paper for $250 million in damages, accusing them of using ‘cherry-picked’ segments of conversations, which were ‘stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced’ to ‘mislead.’
On January 7, 2025, lawyers for both sides issued blistering statements attacking the other.
‘This is not a “feud” arising from “creative differences” or a “he said/she said” situation,’ said her legal team. ‘As alleged in Ms Lively’s complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms Lively [a PR tactic in which false “grassroots” support or opposition is used for reputational damage].’
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman replied hours later: ‘It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending the New York Times grossly edited documents prior to even filing the complaint.’
He added: ‘We are releasing all of the evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie. We have all the receipts and more.’
On January 16 Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for defamation and extortion, seeking $400 million in damages. The gloves were well and truly off.
A trial date was set for March 2026 – later pushed to May – and a series of pre-trial hearings were increasingly acrimonious.
Judge Liman consolidated the cases, clearly infuriated by both sides: in February 2025 he reprimanded both legal teams for playing for public sympathy, warning it could taint the jury pool.
In May 2025 he struck from the docket a letter written by Baldoni’s lawyer regarding Swift’s input in the film, complaining that the ‘sole purpose’ of the letter was to ‘promote public scandal by advancing inflammatory accusations.’ He warned that if Baldoni’s team tried a similar stunt again he would penalize them.
Yet Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s team that same month, dragging her reluctantly into the case.
Swift’s lawyer described the subpoena as a publicity stunt stating: ‘Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release.’
Baldoni’s case was dismissed in its entirety in June 2025.
But Swift is not the only big name to be dragged reluctantly into the legal debacle. Hugh Jackman was named as a possible witness amid claims that he had seen Reynolds berating Baldoni and accusing him of ‘fat shaming’ Lively when he asked how much she weighed, ahead of a lift scene.
Taylor Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s team, dragging her reluctantly into the case
Hugh Jackman (left) was named as a possible witness amid claims that he had seen Reynolds berating Baldoni and accusing him of ‘fat shaming’ Lively
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were also cited in emails entered into the case as Lively reached out to both for their views on her cut of the movie.
In one email Lively told Affleck that her time on set was, ‘the most upsetting experience I’ve ever had on a movie.’
In a message to Damon’s wife, she said she, ‘had to do everything’ and that Baldoni had ‘zero experience.’
These days even Colleen Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us, who was once so thrilled with its Hollywood rendering and choice of lead lady, appears to be done with the film and its fallout.
‘I can’t even recommend it anymore,’ she told Elle magazine in November 2025. ‘I’m almost embarrassed to say I wrote it. When people ask what I do, I’m just like, ‘I’m a writer. Please don’t ask me what I wrote.”
She called the whole sorry saga ‘unfortunate’ and ‘disappointing:’ ‘It feels like a circus. When there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions… I just find it all around sad.’
