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Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively accidentally arrived at a New York City courthouse for a court-ordered settlement conference wearing coordinated outfits.
The It Ends with Us co-stars are currently in legal proceedings related to a lawsuit brought by Lively, accusing Baldoni, who also directed the 2024 romance drama, and the film’s producers of sexual harassment and orchestrating a campaign to ruin her reputation. Baldoni has strongly denied Lively’s claims and previously countersued for extortion and defamation, but the $400 million lawsuit was dismissed.
The two arrived at the courthouse Wednesday for the settlement conference, a standard procedure for a federal civil litigation to determine if the case can be settled outside of court ahead of their May 18 trial date.
Lively, 38, showed up wearing an olive-green suit, with a pale pink collared shirt peeking out, while Baldoni, 42, sported a similar long olive-green wool coat and a pale pink scarf.
The Jane the Virgin actor was seen walking hand in hand with his wife, Emily Baldoni. Lively’s spouse, Ryan Reynolds, did not appear to be in attendance.
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Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni walked into a New York City courthouse, both wearing olive green jackets with pale pink accents (Reuters)
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Wednesday’s settlement conference will determine if they keep their May 18 trial date or if the case will be settled (Reuters)
The pair’s courthouse appearance comes after an attorney for Baldoni asked a federal judge last month to throw out Lively’s lawsuit, arguing that her sexual harassment and retaliation case amounts to no more than “petty slights.”
Lawyers representing Lively rejected that characterization, alleging that Baldoni and other defendants took liberties to foster a sexually charged work environment during production that marginalized women, and later publicly attacked Lively after she raised concerns.
Amid Baldoni and Lively’s legal battle, depositions have brought to light testimonies from the movie’s cast and crew regarding the drama behind the scenes.
Jenny Slate, who starred in the film as Baldoni’s on-screen sister, described the movie’s shoot as “really gross and disturbing” in her private texts to Lively. The actor testified that she wrote about Baldoni: “I honestly have never ever encountered anything like this dude. He’s the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist. Lots of lessons learned!”
The testimonies also include Lively’s text exchanges with Taylor Swift and emails to Ben Affleck, along with messages to Sony Pictures executives and a private text exchange from August 2024 between Jameela Jamil and her publicist Jennifer Abel, who also represented Baldoni.
At the time, Jamil and Abel were apparently responding to a TikTok that criticised Lively’s remarks during the It Ends With Us press tour as not being serious enough, given that the film was about domestic abuse.
“She’s a suicide bomber at this point,” Jamil texted, adding: “I’ve never seen such a bizarre villain act before.”
If this week’s conference does not result in a settlement, the case will go to trial in May.