Blake Lively is asking for $8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni, following the resolution of their highly publicized conflict surrounding the 2024 film “It Ends With Us.”
Court documents filed Tuesday by Lively’s legal team revealed the breakdown: close to $7.5 million in attorney fees split between two law firms that represented her, along with approximately $500,000 in additional costs.
The two sides reached a settlement last month, just as a trial was about to begin in federal court in Manhattan. The case centered on Lively’s allegations that Baldoni had orchestrated a campaign to harm her public image and reputation after she privately accused him of sexually harassing her during filming. Baldoni, who both directed the film and starred alongside Lively, denied her accusations.
Although Lively received no money from the settlement itself, a judge later ruled she has the right to recover certain legal costs she was forced to incur after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her. The judge has yet to sign off on the specific dollar amount she is now requesting.
One of Lively’s attorneys, Michael Gottlieb, stated in a court declaration that he billed her at an average rate of $2,187 per hour — reduced from his standard rate of $2,795 per hour. He logged 224 hours working on her defense against Baldoni’s countersuit, amounting to $457,000 in fees.
In their court filing, Lively’s lawyers accused Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, of using aggressive legal tactics intended to exhaust her financially. “They could have ended it (and offered to reimburse Lively) at any time. Having refused to do so, they should be ordered to reimburse Lively for all of the costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses they improperly forced her to incur,” the filing stated. Attempts to reach Baldoni’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
Lively, 38, originally filed suit against Baldoni, 42, and Wayfarer Studios in December 2024. She alleged they worked with publicists to preemptively tarnish her reputation after she raised sexual harassment concerns privately about the “It Ends With Us” set.
Baldoni responded weeks later with his own lawsuit, targeting Lively, her husband — “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds — and their publicist, alleging defamation and extortion. He denied harassing Lively or running any smear campaign, and claimed her complaints about his conduct were fabricated as part of an attempt to take creative control of the movie.
Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit last year and later threw out Lively’s sexual harassment claims as well, ruling she could not pursue them because she was working as an independent contractor rather than a direct employee on the film set.
In permitting Lively to seek legal cost reimbursement, the judge pointed to a California law designed to shield survivors of sexual harassment and discrimination from retaliatory lawsuits intended to intimidate or silence them. Judge Liman explained that under this law, if a defamation claim filed in response to a lawsuit is dismissed — even before evidence has been fully gathered — the plaintiff must cover the defendant’s legal fees and costs.
The judge noted that an exception would apply if Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios could demonstrate that Lively’s claims were driven by malice, but found they had presented no such evidence.
Lively’s attorneys said in their filing that $4.5 million of the total should go to Gottlieb’s firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, with approximately $3 million directed to the firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. The judge declined Lively’s request to triple any damages or pursue punitive damages under California law, saying those remedies conflicted with federal procedural rules designed to protect the rights of all parties involved.
“It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel about a romance that descends into domestic violence, hit theaters in August 2024 and performed better than expected at the box office.
Lively is known for her early role in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and her years on the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012, as well as later film roles in “The Town” and “The Shallows.” Baldoni gained recognition starring in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the 2019 film “Five Feet Apart,” and authored “Man Enough,” a book that challenges traditional ideas about masculinity.
