Justin Baldoni’s $400m defamation lawsuit against his It Ends With Us co-star, Blake Lively, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, has formally ended after a deadline expired.
Back in June, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed the suit after finding that Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment were legally protected.
He gave Baldoni until the end of October to file an amended complaint, but the writer-director did not respond.
According to documents seen by People, Judge Liman also said he’d contacted all parties on October 17 to warn them he was preparing to enter a final judgment to conclude the case.
Lively was reportedly the only one to respond, asking the judge to declare the final judgment and stating that her request for legal fees should remain active. The judge agreed to this request.
The Independent has approached representatives for Baldoni and Lively for comment.
After the suit was initially dismissed, Lively wrote on her Instagram Stories: “Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”
Lively added she is now “more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story.”
“With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me, many of you I know. Many of you, I don't. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you,” she wrote.
In a statement to The Independent at the time, Lively’s lawyers said: “Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times.”
“As we have said from day one, this ‘$400m’ lawsuit was a sham, and the court saw right through it. We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni, [businessman] Steve Sarowitz, [PR Melissa] Nathan, and the other Wayfarer Parties who perpetrated this abusive litigation.”
The legal battle between Baldoni and Lively stems from It Ends With Us, their 2024 film based on the TikTok sensation novel by Colleen Hoover.
Lively played Lily Bloom in the film, while Baldoni, who also directed the film, stars as Ryle Kincaid, her abusive partner.
Lively filed a lawsuit in December 2024 alleging Baldoni sexually harassed her and exhibited behavior that caused her “severe emotional distress.”
She also alleged that Baldoni was behind an alleged smear campaign designed to “bury” her, which included fan backlash as part of a carefully orchestrated effort by Baldoni’s PR team.
Baldoni’s countersuit, filed in early 2025 just days after Lively’s suit, has now officially come to an end.
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