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I felt a certain pang for Blake Lively last week when I saw headlines alleging that the actress is considering leaving the United States for, if not greener pastures, pastures where her reputation isn’t quite as big a mess as it currently stands in America. The report was based on an unnamed tabloid source, so take that how you will, but it’s certainly been a long few years for Lively, who has been embroiled in scandal and legal drama over her 2024 film It Ends With Us almost continuously since its release. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I didn’t even particularly like Lively as an actress when all this started. So how is it that I now find myself earnestly hoping that she sticks it out and doesn’t get driven out of Hollywood?
Lively’s chief opponent in this saga has been Justin Baldoni, the director and co-lead of It Ends With Us. In 2024 she accused him and others involved with the movie of sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign that resulted in a precipitous decline in her public favor, which Baldoni denies. The case is considerably more complicated than that, of course, but for simplicity’s sake, the main thing you need to know is that it’s finally scheduled for trial next month—meaning that the amount you hear about Lively, Baldoni, and the other players may be about to ramp up significantly.
That’s if she goes to trial at all. Rumors of a face-saving settlement—if that’s even possible at this point—have swirled throughout the case. If you haven’t been following it closely, you may have the impression that things aren’t looking great for Lively: Earlier this month, the judge overseeing the case, Lewis Liman, threw out 10 of the 13 claims from her. That included her sexual harassment allegations, leaving just the retaliation claims standing. Though this was a blow for Lively, the decision was based on fairly narrow legal grounds—Lively was considered an independent contractor, not an employee, while working on It Ends With Us, and federal discrimination laws typically apply only to the latter category. As MJ Morley, a lawyer who covers the Lively–Baldoni case on her Substack, has written, the court’s dismissal of the claims occurred not because they weren’t reasonable or credible. Besides, Team Baldoni has already faced comparable blows: The actor filed his own lawsuit against Lively last year, as well as one against the New York Times, for its part reporting on her initial suit, but they were dismissed.
That brings us to another huge aspect of this case: the online following that’s sprung up around it. In addition to the way that celebrity trials often become feeding frenzies for online content creators these days, Baldoni’s case has attracted an intense swath of the internet that has rallied around support for him and antipathy for Lively. Often compared with those who cheered on Johnny Depp in his suit against Amber Heard, these fans include people who might consider themselves casual celebrity watchers, as well as a more notably conservative, manosphere-adjacent contingent. Though many of them are in the midst of celebrating the tossing of the sexual harassment part of Lively’s case, and though their voices often rise to the top on social media, the wider public’s perception of the ongoing case is murkier to determine. It still seems to be influencing both stars every step of the way.
If the case does go to trial, it will be a minefield for both Baldoni and Lively, but especially for Lively outside the courtroom. That’s why so few celebrity cases like this ultimately do get heard, and why some analysts have questioned why neither party has moved to settle.
I kind of get it, though. Lively wants to see this through. She wants her day in court. Even as rumors fly about her postcase plans—and her husband Ryan Reynolds makes rare public statements in her defense, as he somewhat awkwardly did on Monday—I hope Lively does keep it up. The whole saga here has really been about how easy it is to weaponize the public’s natural propensity to dislike an actress like Lively, particularly in a dispute with a charismatic man, even when she’s got hundreds of pages of evidence on her side. (Of course, so does he, the Baldoni supporters might counter.) Lively’s ultimate revenge would be to finish the case, no matter the uncertain outcome, and return to the movies as if nothing happened as soon as she’s able. Damn it, maybe I’d even buy a ticket.