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The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has sharply intensified, with Lively’s legal team now accusing Baldoni of using retaliatory litigation tactics meant to silence victims of sexual harassment. In a powerful public statement released on April 10, her attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, defended Lively’s right to speak out, citing California’s AB 933 law—an important statute designed to protect survivors from being silenced through defamation lawsuits.
They framed Baldoni’s legal strategy as an attack not only on Lively but on broader protections for women and victims, stating that his actions stand in direct opposition to the values he previously promoted. This follows Lively’s December 2024 allegations of sexual harassment during the filming of It Ends With Us, which were met by Baldoni’s aggressive countersuits totaling $650 million—targeting not just Lively but also Ryan Reynolds and her publicist, as well as The New York Times.
According to Lively’s legal filings, Baldoni’s camp is allegedly struggling to construct a defamation case that can bypass the statute of limitations or claim damages based on privileged legal complaints. Her attorneys argue this is a clear case of intimidation meant to discourage others from speaking up.
With both parties entrenched in high-stakes litigation, and public sentiment continuing to swirl on social media, this controversy is set to remain a defining legal and cultural flashpoint in Hollywood for the foreseeable future.