Blake Lively Breaks Silence on Justin Baldoni’s $400 Million Lawsuit Dismissal

Blake Lively is addressing her latest legal win against "It Ends with Us" co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

A judge on Monday dismissed Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively and Ryan Reynolds, the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane and The New York Times.

Hours after U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan dismissed the countersuit, the Gossip Girl alum spoke out about the decision on social media.

“Like so many others, I've felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram Stories on Monday. “While the suit against me was defeated, so many don't have the resources to fight back.”

The "Simple Favor" actress went on to say she is “more resolved than ever” to “stand for every woman's right to have a voice in protecting themselves” before sharing a list of organizations dedicated to causes including women’s rights, domestic violence and employment law.

“With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me,” she concluded the post. “Many of you I know. Many of you I don't. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you.”

In his countersuit, Baldoni alleged that Lively “stole” the 2024 film from him and his Wayfarer Studios production company and threatened to “attack” him in the press if her demands were not met. 

However, Liman ruled that the Wayfarer Parties have not adequately alleged that Lively’s threats were wrongful extortion rather than legally permissible hard bargaining or renegotiation of working conditions.

Baldoni’s legal action also claimed that Lively, Reynolds and Sloane worked with The New York Times to “spread a false narrative that Baldoni committed sexual misconduct towards Lively,” partly through the publication of an article in the Times in December.

But in his dismissal, Liman explained that “the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane, or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law.” 

A separate $250 million lawsuit filed by Baldoni against the Times was also dismissed.

Liman’s dismissal gave Baldoni’s team a June 23 deadline to file an amended complaint.