It ends in court — next year.
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are headed to trial on March 9, 2026 to settle their “It Ends With Us” legal dispute.
The court date for the case was scheduled by Judge Lewis J. Liman in a legal order filed on Monday, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, are suing each other in federal court in New York. Lively filed a $250 million lawsuit against Baldoni last month, alleging sexual harassment and a smear campaign. Baldoni, in turn, filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for defamation and extortion.
Liman said in Monday’s legal order that he plans to “consolidate” the separate lawsuits.
The judge also confirmed that a pre-trial hearing will take place on Feb. 3, 2025. Both teams are expected to address Lively’s request that a gag order be placed on Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, at the hearing.
Lively and Baldoni’s trial could be canceled if both sides reach a settlement before March 2026, or postponed if the legalities of the case drag on.
However, both stars seem committed to hashing out their feud in court.
Variety reported that last week, Lively and Reynolds’ legal team requested a hearing “as soon as possible” to address Freedman’s media statements, which prompted the judge to move the pre-trial hearing date up from Feb. 12 to Feb. 3.
The couple have asked Liman to ban Freedman from talking to the press, after he released raw footage from “It Ends With Us” to refute Lively’s sexual harassment claims against Baldoni.
In response, Freedman said in a statement that Baldoni’s team won’t be “bullied” by Lively and Reynolds, 48. Freedman also announced plans to launch a website to further prove Baldoni’s defense in the case.
Lively’s lawsuit is against Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios, his producer James Heath, his publicist Jennifer Abel, crisis publicist Melissa Nathan and more. She claimed Baldoni sexually harassed her on the set of the movie, and then orchestrated a PR smear campaign against her.
Baldoni, who has denied all of Lively’s claims, countersued the “Gossip Girl” star, Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR Inc. on various claims including civil extortion, defamation and false light invasion of privacy.
Lively’s legal team called Baldoni’s lawsuit “meritless” and “desperate.”
“Their response to sexual harassment allegations: she wanted it, it’s her fault. Their justification for why this happened to her: look what she was wearing,” Lively’s lawyers said. “In short, while the victim focuses on the abuse, the abuser focuses on the victim. The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail.”
Baldoni is also suing the New York Times for $250 million for libel and false light invasion of privacy, after the newspaper released an article detailing Lively’s sexual harassment claims.
