Until recently, it appeared as though Blake Lively might have been forced to follow a similar script to her titular character in The Age of Adaline.
The 2015 cult classic is about a beautiful woman who stops ageing at 29 and must constantly flee her home, changing her identity every decade to avoid being treated as a scientific curiosity or a public sideshow.
However, just hours after settling her bitter, multimillion-dollar legal battle with It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni on May 4, Lively shed the scripted robes of a recluse to take her place on the Met Gala steps at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, wearing a stunning archival Atelier Versace gown in the colours of a sunset and clutching a custom Judith Leiber bag decorated with artwork by her four children.
A triumphant way for Lively to show the world that the sun had finally set on her self-imposed time away from the Hollywood limelight, the Met Gala appearance was also a defiant about-face. It followed months of rumours that Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds were planning to move their four children to the UK to escape any Hollywood fallout from the filming and subsequent promotion of 2024 drama It Ends With Us, where producer Lively and director Baldoni were also co-stars.
Lively’s public profile had been overwhelmed by the mudslinging of her initial 13-claim lawsuit, Baldoni’s dismissed $556 million countersuit, and the once looming May 18 court date over her three remaining claims, which related to breach of contract and retaliation – mainly her assertion that Baldoni’s team fuelled a “mean girl” smear campaign to destroy her career.
The Age Of Adaline is streaming on Tubi.
Rather than see a conga line of celebrity witnesses such as Reynolds, Taylor Swift, and Hugh Jackman put through the wringer on the stand, the legal teams – which sources told Page Six Hollywood racked up an estimated $83 million in fees – agreed to a ceasefire on May 4. In a joint statement, the parties declared that making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors was a goal they both stood behind with It Ends With Us, and expressed a sincere hope for closure.
For Lively, a “mean girl” misconception about her existed long before Baldoni entered the chat. While promoting The Age of Adaline nearly a decade ago, Lively told YouTube channel Star Sessions that she struggled when the public couldn’t differentiate her from Serena van der Woodsen, the “It girl” she played for six seasons of Gossip Girl.
“That’s the thing that I always find to be the most challenging,” she explained about the frequent blurring of the lines between her public and private personas.
“[It’s] feeling, ‘That’s not me.’ Like, don’t think of me like that.”
At that time, Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds – who married in 2012 – were one of Hollywood’s golden couples, and she was the undisputed poster girl for celebrity sisterhood as a central member of Taylor Swift’s “squad”.
Since Lively first filed her suit in December 2024, the discovery process has been particularly brutal, revealing cringe-inducing private messages to A-list pals such as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
The most shocking fracture, however, was with her longtime friend Swift. In an unsealed 2024 text, the pop star told Lively that her messages had begun to read like a “mass corporate email” rather than “my funny, dark, normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself”.
While it remains to be seen if the friendship with Swift can be salvaged, “Blake genuinely believes there’s still a path back,” a source told gossip columnist Rob Shuter.
“Now that the legal mess is over, she thinks the hardest part is behind her and there’s real hope they can move forward.”
But even with powerful allies like Anna Wintour personally inviting her to the Met Gala, Lively may continue to find herself in Adaline’s shoes – increasingly isolated in a world that refuses to let her move on.
As Fran Weinstein, longtime director of US entertainment programs Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, told NewsNation about how Hollywood perceives Lively, “At the moment, I believe that Blake is persona non grata. They don’t want to go near that fire for a while.”
Lively once said of Adaline’s immortality: “Time is only valuable because of love.”
Without the unwavering support of the public and her inner circle, even a “golden age” can feel like an eternity in exile. Yet Lively’s return to the spotlight suggests she is finished with running.
The Age Of Adaline is streaming on Tubi.