Blake Lively’s lawyer is addressing claims that the actress and Justin Baldoni spent a whopping $60 million on dueling lawsuits.
On Monday, May 4, the It Ends With Us costars announced that they had settled their legal battle after Lively, 38, sued Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios for sexual harassment, retaliation and breach of contract, among other claims, in December 2024. Baldoni filed a countersuit against Lively in January 2025, which was dismissed that June, and last month a judge gutted 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including sexual harassment.
However, just as it seemed the drama had come to an end, on Thursday, May 7, Lively filed a request for damages as part of the settlement, accusing Baldoni, 42, of filing a retaliatory lawsuit against her for speaking out about alleged sexual harassment. Lively’s attorneys argue Baldoni is liable to pay under California Civil Code Section 47.1, which aims to protect victims of sexual harassment from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.
Later on Thursday, Lively’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley addressed the star’s latest legal move in an interview with Entertainment Tonight after being asked about a Page Six report that Lively and Baldoni spent $60 million on the legal battle.
“Well, certainly any battle like this is expensive. And that’s why laws like the law that’s been passed in California that she’s proceeding under are so important,” McCawley responded to a question about the cost of the legal proceedings.
McCawley said the Section 47.1 law invoked by Lively stops people “weaponizing the legal system against the individuals who report things like sexual harassment.”
“That’s really critical because most people can’t afford to undertake this kind of significant battle,” the lawyer added. “She knows that that’s a privilege. She knows that most people are not in a position to do that.”
Earlier on Thursday, Lively’s attorneys Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said of the request for damages, “By agreeing to this settlement and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively. And by admitting that Ms. Lively’s concerns ‘deserved to be heard,’ the defendants have ended once and for all the fiction that Ms. Lively ‘fabricated’ claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in his own statement on Thursday that the settlement between the embattled stars was a “win and total victory” for his client and Wayfarer Studios.
“Ms. Lively voluntarily dismissed the rest,” Freedman said of the three claims in Lively’s lawsuit that were set to go to trial before the parties reached a settlement. “In our view, they settled because they knew they were going to lose in court. All that remains is a pending request for fees based on a very narrow issue that has been with the court since September 2025.”
In a subsequent interview with ET on Thursday, Freedman said that the actress’ request for damages “seems like more nonsense from Ms. Lively.”
“I think it’s impossible for Ms. Lively to take responsibility for any part of her actions,” he claimed. “If one can’t see themselves, one can’t honestly, realistically, look at their part in things, it makes for a troubled existence.”
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