Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have resolved their legal differences two weeks before a federal trial was set to begin, ending a bitter dispute over the film It Ends With Us that had played out for a year and a half in court and in public.
The parties announced the settlement on Monday in a joint statement that called the movie a source of pride for everyone who worked to bring it to life and said they stood behind efforts to raise awareness and make a meaningful impact for domestic violence survivors and all survivors.
Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 film and later alleged that he and his army of publicists mounted a digital smear campaign after she raised complaints. The case became one of the most closely watched Hollywood legal battles of the year because it mixed workplace allegations, reputation warfare and a film built around domestic violence, the same subject at the center of the internal fight. A related court fight over the case had already drawn attention in coverage such as the dispute's path to trial after a judge narrowed the claims.
About a month before the settlement, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 civil claims, including all harassment claims. Three claims remained for a jury to decide: retaliation, aiding and abetting retaliation and breach of contract. Lively’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said at the time that her client looked forward to telling her story on the witness stand and had already achieved her goals by exposing the “smear machine” she said sat at the heart of the case.
The settlement removes that trial from the calendar and leaves the public record with a clearer ending than the court docket alone would have provided. In her own words on Instagram, Lively said she brought the case because of the pervasive retaliation she faced and continued to face after privately and professionally asking for a safe working environment for herself and others, and said she hoped the court’s decision would show others that, painful as it is, they can speak up. What the agreement now answers is whether the fight would ever reach a jury. It will not.
