The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni reached its end on Monday.
The former It Ends With Us costars reached a settlement two weeks before the case was set to go to trial and more than a year after Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni.
Lively, who starred in and produced the 2024 Colleen Hoover book adaptation, accused Baldoni, who played her romantic interest and directed the film, of sexual harassment and waging an online smear campaign against her. Baldoni has staunchly denied all allegations. Since then, the two have been locked in a he-said/she-said battle of public opinion, which played out in the press and on social media.
Now, the stars have called a draw. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Attorneys for Lively and Baldoni issued a joint statement on Monday.
“The end product — the movie It Ends With Us — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life,” Bryan Freedman, Ellyn Garofalo, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a statement. “Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind.”
Lively attended the 2026 Met Gala in New York City on Monday night, arriving on the red carpet just hours after the settlement was announced.
Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala in New York City on Monday.
(Taylor Hill via Getty Images)
In April, a judge threw out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against Baldoni, allowing only breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting retaliation to move forward. The court ruled that Lively was working as an independent contractor, meaning she could not pursue a sexual harassment claim under federal employment law.
Lively and Baldoni attempted to reach a settlement in February but failed to do so.
It Ends With Us hit theaters in August 2024. It centers on Lily Bloom (Lively), a florist who enters into a relationship with a surgeon, Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), only for the whirlwind romance to sour when Ryle becomes physically abusive.
Before the film’s release, Lively faced public scrutiny for her approach to promoting it, which highlighted the film’s lighter elements. Around the same time, people noticed that Lively and Baldoni did not appear together at promotional events — including at the film’s premiere, where they did not take photos together — fueling speculation of a rift between the costars.
That rift was confirmed when, in December 2024, the Gossip Girl alum filed a complaint against Baldoni and went public with it in a New York Times article. Later that month, she filed a lawsuit in New York against Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios. Baldoni, a director and actor best known for his work on the CW’s Jane the Virgin as well as his podcast Man Enough, denied the allegations, arguing that negative press about Lively — which she said stemmed from Baldoni’s smear campaign — was organic. He also alleged that Lively attempted to use her star power to exert control over It Ends With Us.
Baldoni sued the New York Times for defamation, and in January 2025 filed a civil suit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and their public relations team. Both lawsuits were later dismissed.
The fallout from the case was swift. Baldoni was dropped by his agency WME, where Lively and Reynolds are also represented, and his Voices of Solidarity Award from the nonprofit the Vital Voices Global Partnership, which supports women in leadership roles, was rescinded.
In the immediate aftermath of the lawsuit, Lively received praise from many stars for speaking out about sexual harassment. However, as the weeks went on, and more information about the case was released, public opinion became more divided.
The case, which has drawn considerable attention over the last year and a half, has also drawn in celebrities like Taylor Swift, a friend of Lively’s whose text messages with the actor were revealed in court documents. Even the Marvel character Deadpool became linked to the case when Baldoni alleged that Deadpool star Reynolds mockingly based the character Nicepool — a performative male feminist who is killed by Lively’s character Lady Deadpool — on him.