blake lively
Blake Lively

Justin Baldoni and his wife, Emily, publicly addressed his contentious legal battle with actress Blake Lively for the first time in nearly two years, sharing an emotional Instagram video Wednesday in which they spoke about enduring what they described as significant pain and trauma while largely staying silent throughout the dispute.

"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 Baldoni, 42, said at the outset of the roughly five-minute 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, and we were talking about it and feeling into it and praying about it."

Emily Baldoni, 41, echoed her husband's sentiment, indicating the couple felt the moment had finally arrived to speak publicly. "There is so much to say," she said, adding that gratitude has played a central role in the family's recovery. "We can genuinely say that we are sitting here today feeling immense gratitude for so many things, and so many people, and so many things that have happened to us," Emily said. She was careful to note, however, that the gratitude did not erase the difficulty of the past two years. "That gratitude, it doesn't negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years," she said, adding that the family has had "a lot of trauma" to move through together.

The legal dispute between Baldoni and Lively began in December 2024, when Lively alleged that Baldoni sexually harassed her and orchestrated an online smear campaign against her during the filming and promotion of "It Ends With Us," the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel that Baldoni both directed and starred in alongside Lively. Baldoni denied the allegations and responded with a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane, along with Sloane's public relations firm, accusing them of defamation and breach of contract.

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman later dismissed Baldoni's countersuit in its entirety and separately threw out the majority of Lively's claims against Baldoni, including allegations of sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy. In May, the two sides reached a settlement resolving the remaining claims in the case shortly before the matter was set to proceed to trial. Some early reporting on that settlement indicated no money had changed hands between the parties. More recent court filings, however, indicate Liman has since ordered Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, to pay Lively's legal fees connected to the litigation, an amount reported at approximately $8.04 million. According to Deadline, Baldoni's side has until Monday, July 13, to either agree to that figure or contest it in court, and representatives for Baldoni had not responded to a request for comment on the filing as of Wednesday morning.

In the Instagram video, Baldoni did not directly name Lively, reference the film, or detail the specifics of the legal proceedings, instead focusing on the broader emotional toll the dispute has taken on his family. "There have been so many painful things that have been spoken to existence... over the last couple years," Baldoni said. "And that created so much noise, and we didn't want to add to the noise, so we just wanted to let the justice system run its course."

Emily Baldoni struck a similar tone, suggesting the family has had to grapple with difficult questions throughout the ordeal. "We've had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like, 'How could something like this even happen?'" she said, adding a reference to what she characterized as the framing of the dispute, "let alone disguised as a fight for women." She went on to express confidence in the eventual outcome of the case, saying, "The truth and the facts have spoken for themselves, and here we are."

Justin Baldoni described the process of moving forward as ongoing and non-linear. "We are healing," he said. "And if you've ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn't linear. It looks different every day. And we have had to rethink for ourselves what is real and what matters." He also thanked the couple's family, friends and broader community for their support throughout the legal battle, telling his roughly 4 million Instagram followers, "Thank you does not feel like enough. But we're here because of so many of you and all of our friends and family."

Emily, who shares two children with Baldoni, indicated that while there remains more the couple could say about the dispute, they intend to focus their energy elsewhere for now. "There's so much more to say and that time will come," she said. "But for now, we are going to focus on continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life."

Neither Lively nor representatives for her and Reynolds had publicly responded to the Baldonis' video as of Wednesday. The public dispute between the two "It Ends With Us" co-stars had remained largely dormant in recent months following the May settlement, though the more recent ruling on legal fees suggests some aspects of the litigation remain unresolved as the July 13 response deadline approaches.

Wednesday's video marked the first time either Justin or Emily Baldoni had addressed the legal saga publicly since the dispute first became public in late 2024, a period during which the couple has largely avoided commenting on the case directly while it moved through the court system. With the response deadline on the legal fee ruling now just days away, further developments in the case are expected in the coming weeks, though it remains unclear whether either side plans additional public comment beyond Wednesday's video as that process unfolds.

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