Justin Baldoni’s highly publicized $400 million defamation and extortion countersuit against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds has officially come to an end after the director missed a court-imposed deadline to amend his claims.
It Ends Here
On Oct. 31, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman of the Southern District of New York signed an order stating that Baldoni and his co-plaintiffs, including Wayfarer Studios, allowed the opportunity to revive the case to lapse, effectively closing this chapter of the ongoing legal battle.
The lawsuit revolved around the movie “It Ends With Us,” in which Baldoni starred and directed and Lively co-starred.
The dismissal follows the court’s initial ruling in June that found Baldoni’s defamation allegations lacked merit. At that time, Judge Liman determined that many of the statements cited in Baldoni’s complaint, drawn from Lively’s sexual harassment filing and a related New York Times article, were protected under litigation and reporting privileges, Complex reported.
Baldoni can appeal the dismissal, but the judge’s latest order formally ended his claims against Lively, Reynolds, and The New York Times. Lively, 38, was the only party to respond to the court’s warning on Oct. 17 that a final judgment could be entered. She requested that the court proceed with final judgment while keeping her request for legal fees active. The judge agreed to her requests.
The countersuit was originally filed in January, positioned as a “counterattack” after Lively sued Baldoni in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation during the production of “It Ends With Us.” Lively’s complaint detailed allegations of inappropriate on-set behavior, including an incident where Baldoni reportedly “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear down her neck” and pushed for an explicit sex scene, along with what she claimed were invasive comments about her and Reynolds’ private lives.
Baldoni denied the allegations and filed his $400 million countersuit claiming defamation and extortion, citing a December 2024 New York Times article entitled “’We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” Judge Liman dismissed the claims, affirming that the reporting was protected and rejecting Baldoni’s arguments.
Lively’s legal team described the court’s order as a “total victory and a complete vindication” for the actress, calling Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit a “sham.” Meanwhile, Lively’s original sexual harassment case against Baldoni remains ongoing, leaving the high-profile Hollywood legal saga far from over.
Baldini’s net worth is estimated to be around $4 million, while Lively’s is around $30 milion and her husband, Renyolds reportedly is worth a whopping $350 million.
