Justin Baldoni has spoken publicly for the first time in nearly two years about his ongoing legal battle with Blake Lively, saying he and his family have been dealing with “a lot of trauma” throughout the dispute.
The It Ends With Us actor and director appeared in a video shared on Wednesday alongside his wife, Emily Baldoni, where the couple reflected on what they described as the “injustice and the pain” they have experienced during the highly publicised legal fight.
Baldoni said the pair had chosen to remain silent while allowing the legal process to continue, despite having wanted to respond publicly earlier.
“We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years, and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say, because Lord knows we have,” Justin prefaced in the Instagram video. “But it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just didn’t feel like the right time.”
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The legal dispute began following the release of the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us, which starred both Baldoni and Lively.
Lively accused Baldoni of harassment and retaliation, while Baldoni and his company Wayfarer Studios denied the allegations and became involved in a separate legal battle. Baldoni sued the actress and her husband, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds, for defamation and extortion but his case was later dismissed.
The two sides settled their legal dispute in May this year.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were both sued by Justin Baldoni. Shutterstock
Baldoni said the couple wanted to avoid adding to the public conversation while the case was ongoing.
“There have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple years, and that created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise. We just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios must cover Blake Lively’s legal fees connected to the case, with the amount reported to be $8,035,040.88.
Blake Lively. Tania Volobueva, Shutterstock
Baldoni said the experience had been difficult but credited his family, friends, supporters and faith for helping him through the situation.
“We are healing. And if you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It looks different every day,” said Justin. “And we have had to rethink for ourselves what is real and what matters. And it’s this. It’s the kids. It’s our family. It’s our friends. It’s our community who’ve been there for us. It’s our faith. I think we’re closer and more devoted and steadfast in our faith than we’ve ever been.”
The actor also thanked supporters who stood by him during the dispute, saying many had offered encouragement while he felt unable to speak publicly.
“Also, this has been on both of our hearts. There were so many of you who, when we didn’t have a voice, were our voice. You had a prayer at the very beginning, which was that you just pray that people would have discernment. And so many of you had discernment and you used your intuition and you trusted that. And you have given your time to fight for us. And thank you does not feel like enough, but we’re here in large part because of so many of you and all of our friends and family. And one thing that we’ve learned is that when God presses the reset button and everything else is stripped away, that’s when love shows up. And we feel so loved,” he added.
Emily Baldoni said the couple still had more they wanted to share but that their focus for now was on moving forward and spending time with their family.
“That time will come, but for now, we are going to focus on continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life.”
Baldoni’s legal team now has until July 13 to decide whether to accept the reported legal fee ruling or challenge the decision.
