Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have ended their 'It Ends With Us' dispute in a settlement

NEW YORK (AP) — Actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni agreed Monday to end their legal feud over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film "It Ends With Us," averting a trial that threatened to further tarnish their reputations and expose the dark side of Hollywood moviemaking. The costars turned courtroom adversaries settled the civil case two weeks before they were to go to trial in New York on Lively's claims that Baldoni conspired with publicists to preemptively destroy her reputation after she privately accused him of sexually harassing her on the movie set. "Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind," Lively and Baldoni said in a joint statement issued through their lawyers. "It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online." The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Lively, 38, sued Baldoni, 42, and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, at the end of 2024. Weeks later, Baldoni sued Lively, accusing her, her husband — "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds — and their publicist of defamation and extortion. Baldoni, who directed the dark romantic drama and starred in it with Lively, had denied harassing her or orchestrating a smear campaign. He'd claimed the complaints about his behavior were made up by Lively as part of an effort to seize creative control of the movie. Monday's settlement came after a federal judge in Manhattan tossed some of each actors' claims. Last June, Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni's defamation and extortion lawsuit. In April, he threw out Lively's sexual harassment claims, ruling that she couldn't pursue them under federal law because she was an independent contractor rather than an employee on the movie set. In their joint statement, the parties said they recognize that Lively's concerns "deserved to be heard" and that they "remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments." The trial, now no longer necessary, had been scheduled to begin with jury selection on May 18. "It Ends With Us," an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling 2016 novel about a relationship devolving into domestic violence, was released in August 2024 and exceeded box office expectations despite criticism that it glorified abuse. Lively and Baldoni's fractious falling out took attention away from the film, overshadowing its message and success. "The end product — the movie 'It Ends With Us' — is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life," Lively and Baldoni said in their statement. Lively said in her lawsuit that during filming, Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her appearance, violated physical boundaries while filming a love scene, and pushed for nudity — against Lively's wishes — during a scene in which her character was giving birth. Baldoni denied doing anything outside the realm of the normal creative process of making a movie. The judge, in the decision tossing out the sexual harassment claims, acknowledged the complexity of the matter, noting that creative artists "must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment." The trial was to focus on Lively's claim that Baldoni and the studio retaliated against her sexual harassment complaints by hiring publicists to turn the public against her. Her lawyers said that campaign including hiring a "digital army" to post bogus negative content about Lively on social media platforms, and feeding "manufactured content to unwitting reporters." The lawsuit said the purpose was to "retaliate against Ms. Lively by battering her image, harming her businesses, and causing her family severe emotional harm." Baldoni's lawyers have claimed it was Lively who was strategically manipulating Baldoni's public image, partly by leveraging help from her famous friends. Lively appeared in the 2005 film "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and the TV series "Gossip Girl" from 2007 to 2012 before starring in films including "The Town" and "The Shallows." Baldoni starred in the TV comedy "Jane the Virgin," directed the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart" and wrote "Man Enough," a book challenging traditional notions of masculinity.