NEW YORK — Blake Lively will recover a little more than $400,000 in legal fees and expenses from actor-director Justin Baldoni — far short of the $8 million she had requested — after a federal judge weighed in on the pair’s legal dispute tied to the making of their 2024 film, “It Ends With Us.”
In a written ruling issued Wednesday in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman said Lively was not eligible to recoup the full sum her attorneys said was spent after Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, brought claims of their own in response to her December 2024 lawsuit.
Liman noted that Lively and Baldoni had “waged fierce battle against each other in court,” but rejected most of the legal costs she sought. The judge pointed to the boundaries of a California statute intended to shield survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from lawsuits viewed as retaliatory.
According to the ruling, that law — designed to protect sex abuse survivors from legal action meant to intimidate or silence them — could only be applied to reimburse Lively for attorney work connected to defending against defamation claims, not every claim Baldoni brought against her.
As a result, Liman awarded Lively $363,245 in attorneys’ fees, along with $44,206 in related costs.
Representatives for both Lively and Baldoni were contacted for comment.
Lively’s lawsuit accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, as well as breach of contract, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.
Baldoni, who both directed and co-starred with Lively in the dark romantic drama, has denied harassing her or carrying out a smear campaign. He has argued that Lively fabricated allegations about his conduct as part of an attempt to gain creative control over “It Ends With Us.”
Weeks after Lively sued, Baldoni and Wayfarer asserted claims in a countersuit against Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, of civil extortion, defamation, invasion of privacy, breach of good faith and fair dealing and economic interference.
In June 2025, Liman tossed out the countersuit Baldoni and Wayfarer had filed and nearly a year later rejected Lively’s sexual harassment claims on the grounds that she was an independent contractor rather than an employee when she worked on the film.
In early May, two weeks before a scheduled trial, Lively and Baldoni reached a settlement, saying in a joint statement that Lively’s concerns “deserved to be heard” and that they “remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.”
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel about a relationship devolving into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations despite criticism that it glorified abuse. Lively and Baldoni’s fractious falling out took attention away from the film, overshadowing its message and success.
Lively said in her lawsuit that during filming, Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her appearance, violated physical boundaries while filming a love scene, and pushed for nudity – against Lively’s wishes – during a scene in which her character was giving birth.
Baldoni denied doing anything outside the realm of the normal creative process of making a movie.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.
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