Justin Baldoni Breaks Nearly Two Years of Public Silence Following Settlement of Blake Lively Lawsuit

Justin Baldoni has spoken publicly for the first time in almost two years, addressing the fallout from his legal battle with Blake Lively over their film "It Ends With Us" now that the case has ended in a settlement.

Baldoni appeared in a video posted to social media on Wednesday alongside his wife, Emily, explaining why the couple had stayed quiet for so long even as the lawsuit dominated headlines. Baldoni said that although he and Emily had plenty they wanted to say over the past two years, something kept telling them to hold back each time they considered speaking out, and the timing never felt right until now.

Throughout the video, the couple reflected on how difficult the last several years have been as the case wound its way through the court system. Baldoni said that gratitude had carried them through the ordeal, but he was careful to note that gratitude alone hadn't erased the sense of injustice and pain the experience left behind.

Emily echoed that sentiment, expressing disbelief that a situation like theirs could unfold at all, especially one she said was framed as a fight on behalf of women. She acknowledged there was a great deal to process and said the family has had to work through significant trauma, which she noted made it especially hard to find the words to speak publicly.

Baldoni added that so much painful commentary had already been aired publicly over the past couple of years that he and Emily made a deliberate choice not to add to it. Emily said she believed that, in the end, the truth and the underlying facts had spoken for themselves.

The video comes roughly two months after Lively and Baldoni reached a settlement in May, resolving their bitter legal dispute just weeks before the case was set to go to trial. Lively had alleged that Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, allowed a toxic and sexually charged atmosphere to take hold on the set of "It Ends With Us," one she said discriminated against women. She further claimed that Baldoni and others involved in producing the film coordinated a smear campaign designed to silence her and damage her reputation.

Baldoni denied those accusations and responded by filing his own defamation countersuit against Lively, though that claim was ultimately dismissed by the court.

Notably, the terms of the settlement did not include any monetary payment to Lively. However, a judge separately ordered Baldoni to cover Lively's legal costs, which were later calculated at $8 million.

Reflecting on the period since the settlement, Baldoni said he and Emily are still in the process of healing, and stressed that healing rarely follows a straight line, changing shape from one day to the next. He said the experience forced them to reconsider what genuinely matters to them, landing on their family, friends, and community, along with their faith, which he said has grown stronger and more central to their lives than ever before.

Baldoni also thanked the people who had publicly supported the couple during the period when he felt he had no platform of his own to respond to the allegations against him. He said many people who had been asked simply to hold onto hope that others would exercise discernment ended up doing exactly that, trusting their instincts and dedicating real time and energy to standing behind him and Emily. He said that no expression of thanks felt sufficient to match what that support had meant to them.

Emily closed out the video by acknowledging that there was still much more the couple wanted to share about their experience, but said that would have to wait for another time.