Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Says His Client Is “Devastated” Over Lawsuit Battle
Bryan Freedman, lawyer for Justin Baldoni, says his client is “devastated financially and emotionally” over the allegations and lawsuit battle he has found himself in with Blake Lively.
Baldoni spent years optioning the right to produce Colleen Hoover’s massively successful book “It Ends With Us” and bring it to the screen as star and director. Blake Lively was his co-star and things started to go south publicly during promotion for the their movie when the Internet noticed Baldoni never did press with any of the cast, though Lively was with her co-stars. Then came a formal sexual harassment claim, story in the New York Times laying out Lively’s complaint, then a formal lawsuit against him.
Baldoni countered with a lawsuit against NYT and a $400 defamation and extortion suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds. Freedman also published a website outlining their lawsuit and detailed timeline with all text and email exchanges to answer to everything in Lively’s lawsuit.
At the first court hearing this week, a requested dismissal and gag order from Lively’s team was denied and the judge warning about toning down the PR battle in the public.
The Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. case is now scheduled for March 2026.