In early May, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled their long-running lawsuit. The settlement came after the bulk of Blake’s claims against Baldoni were tossed out, including all of the sexual harassment and defamation claims. Basically, much of Blake’s lawsuit was gutted and she didn’t have much of a case after that, so her lawyers and Baldoni’s lawyers came to a “both sides walk away free and clear” settlement. The settlement was not financial, although Baldoni will now pay millions for Lively’s legal fees. Since May, Baldoni has not spoken out personally. Until now. He made an Instagram video with his wife Emily:

Justin Baldoni is speaking out after reaching a settlement in his legal dispute with Blake Lively tied to their 2024 film It Ends with Us. In an Instagram video alongside his wife Emily Baldoni on Wednesday, July 8, Justin begins, “We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years, and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say.”

“Because lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to,” he continues. “It just didn’t feel like the right time, and we were talking about it and feeling into it and praying about it.”

Emily confirms, “This feels like the moment,” adding, “There’s so much to say.”

The couple’s remarks come nearly two years after Lively sued Baldoni and others tied to It Ends with Us in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm, alleging defamation and breach of contract. That suit was later dismissed. Ahead of trial, the case had been significantly narrowed, with only a limited set of retaliation-related claims remaining. Lively had been expected to testify before the parties reached a settlement.

A federal judge ruled last month that Lively is entitled to attorneys’ fees related to Baldoni’s counterclaim, but that any claim for treble or punitive damages would have to be pursued through a separate lawsuit or counterclaim. Nearly three weeks later, on June 30, Lively’s lawyers made a statement following the actress’ filing seeking over $8 million in legal fees.

Justin, who does not mention Lively’s name in Wednesday’s video, notes that he and Emily won’t cover everything in their message. Emily agrees and expresses “immense gratitude for … so many people and so many things that have happened to us.”

“Gratitude has saved us,” Justin adds. Still, Emily states that their gratitude “doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years. We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like how could something like this even happen? Let alone disguised as a fight for women. So much to unpack.” She shares that she and Justin have experienced “a lot of trauma” that makes it difficult to speak openly.

“We don’t even know if this is the right thing to say,” Justin says. “We just know we need to share something. What I will say is that there have been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple of years. That created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise. So we just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”

Emily states that “the truth and the facts have spoken for themselves.”

As for how they’re doing, Justin says, “We are healing. If you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It looks different every day. We have had to rethink for ourselves what is real, and what matters. It’s this. It’s our family, it’s our friends, it’s our community, who have been there for us, it’s our faith.”

Justin adds that he and Emily, who wed in July 2013, have grown “closer, more devoted, and steadfast in our faith than we’ve ever been.” Emily adds, “There’s so much more to say. The time will come. But for now, we are going to focus on continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life.”

[From People]

Yeah… the vibe with him is always sort of “annoying and unsettlingly earnest.” But I’m glad that his wife is his ride-or-die and that their marriage is still solid. They have as much right to speak out now as Blake and Ryan Reynolds, you know? Although I do think both sides are probably under some kind of NDA clause as part of the settlement – it would make sense for how both Lively and Baldoni are speaking in more general terms about everything that happened.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin Baldoni (@justinbaldoni)

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Instagram.