{"id":561620,"date":"2026-04-03T05:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/561620\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:53:14","slug":"blake-lively-pledges-to-continue-justin-baldoni-lawsuit-after-harassment-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/561620\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively pledges to continue Justin Baldoni lawsuit after harassment setback"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Blake Lively<\/a> has pledged to continue with her high-profile lawsuit<\/a> against her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni<\/a>, even after a judge threw out out most of her claims.<\/p>\n

The claims dismissed by Judge Lewis Liman included those related to sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy.<\/p>\n

In total, three out of Lively\u2019s original 13 claims will proceed to trial. Those relate to breach of contract, retaliation and aiding and abetting in retaliation.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Independent, a member of Lively\u2019s legal team, Sigrid McCawley, said: \u201cThis case has always been and will remain focused on the devastating retaliation and the extraordinary steps the defendants took to destroy Blake Lively\u2019s reputation because she stood up for safety on the set and that is the case that is going to trial. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor Blake Lively, the greatest measure of justice is that the people and the playbook behind these coordinated digital attacks have been exposed and are already being held accountable by other women they\u2019ve targeted. She looks forward to testifying at trial and continuing to shine a light on this vicious form of online retaliation so that it becomes easier to detect and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BlakeBlake Lively\u2019s sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni has been decimated by a judge \u2014 but three claims will proceed to trial (Getty)<\/p>\n

As for the reason some claims are not being taken to trial, McCawley stated: \u201cSexual harassment isn\u2019t going forward not because the defendants did nothing wrong but because the court determined Blake Lively was an independent contractor, not an employee.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a separate statement, Baldoni\u2019s legal representatives, Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach of Shapiro Arato Bach, told The Independent: \u201cWe\u2019re very pleased the Court dismissed all sexual harassment claims and every claim brought against the individual defendants: Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath, Steve Sarowitz, Melissa Nathan, and Jennifer Abel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were very serious allegations, and we are grateful to the Court for its careful review of the facts, law and voluminous evidence that was provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s left is a significantly narrowed case, and we look forward to presenting our defense to the remaining claims in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The long-rumbling legal proceedings began in dramatic fashion on December 20, 2024 when Lively filed a bombshell lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and claiming that Baldoni\u2019s behavior caused her \u201csevere emotional distress\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

Baldoni directed and co-starred alongside Lively in the 2024 romance drama It Ends With Us, based on Colleen Hoover\u2019s bestselling novel. The story follows a flower shop owner (Lively) who falls in love with a charming yet abusive neurosurgeon (Baldoni).<\/p>\n

Author Hoover, who served as an executive producer on the film, spoke out last November against the \u201cugliness\u201d of the ongoing legal drama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like a circus,\u201d she told Elle last month. \u201cWhen there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions. This actually truly has impacted some of the actors\u2019 careers in huge ways. And I just find it all around sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing that her book was inspired by her mother\u2019s own story of abuse, Hoover said it \u201cnow gives us PTSD to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel awful because I almost feel like she\u2019s gone through more with the aftermath of this film, more pain than she went through with my dad, just seeing the ugliness of it,\u201d the Verity author said. \u201cI can\u2019t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-561620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}