Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled their sprawling legal battle in May 2026, two weeks before trial, ending an 18-month feud over sexual-harassment claims, a $400 million countersuit, and dueling smear-campaign allegations that cost a reported $60 million in legal fees.
The dispute grew out of the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel 'It Ends with Us,' which Baldoni directed and the two co-starred in. The movie was a commercial hit, but its press tour was dogged by reports of a rift: fans criticized Lively's breezy tone when discussing the film's domestic-violence themes, and Baldoni was conspicuously absent from joint promotion. In December 2024, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging Baldoni fostered a hostile workplace through inappropriate behavior, and The New York Times published an investigation accusing Baldoni of hiring crisis PR operatives to damage her reputation after she complained.
Lively then filed a federal lawsuit alleging retaliation for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns. Baldoni denied everything and struck back hard: in January 2025 he filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her longtime publicist Leslie Sloane, alleging defamation, extortion, and a coordinated smear campaign, plus a $250 million suit against The New York Times. Both suits landed before Judge Lewis Liman, who dismissed Baldoni's claims in June 2025. In April 2026 the judge also threw out most of Lively's claims, leaving only a handful of retaliation-related allegations to go to trial.
Rather than face a public trial, the parties announced a confidential settlement on May 4, 2026, releasing a joint statement pledging support for domestic-violence survivors and safe workplaces. In the aftermath, Lively reportedly parted ways with Sloane, her publicist of more than two decades, and in August 2026 a judge awarded her roughly $407,000 — a fraction of the $8 million she had sought — in attorneys' fees for defeating Baldoni's countersuit. Author Colleen Hoover, speaking to Variety about four months after the settlement, said she felt for everyone involved but remained proud of the film.
The case became a referendum on Hollywood power dynamics: whether a powerful star couple weaponized public relations against a first-time director, or whether that director retaliated against a woman who spoke up about on-set misconduct. With the settlement's terms sealed, neither question was answered in court, and both camps claimed vindication — but the reported $60 million combined legal bill ensured nobody walked away whole.