EXCLUSIVE: Blake Lively‘s year and half long legal battle with Justin Baldoni saw a big section of the It Ends With Us actress’ lawsuit sliced out this week with a judge dismissing the sexual harassment claims against her co-star and his Wayfarer executives. However, with six weeks to go before a trial starts in NYC, WME, Lively’s current agency and Baldoni’s former agency, has come out swinging for the Another Simple Favor star.
“In an industry that too often asks women to absorb the damage and stay quiet, Blake Lively chose to stand up for herself, her castmates, and those without the ability to fight back,” a spokesperson for the Richard Weitz and Christian Muirhead run talent agency told Deadline this Good Friday. “She has met this moment with courage, moral clarity, and extraordinary determination.”
Set to go to trial with Baldoni, his Wayfarer brass and Crisis PR team on May 18 in what is still a multi-million dollar action (unless another attempt at a settlement is unerway and rabbit is pulled out of a hat ASAP), Lively saw the harassment claim cut out of her suit by Judge Lewis Liman (Doug’s brother) due to her independent contractor status on the Sony distributed flick and lack of jurisdiction by invoking California laws. With the hardcore alleged online smear campaign now the heart of the case more than ever, Lively’s defamation and retaliation claims remain.
Lively has been with the Ari Emanuel co-founded WME since 2013, after a stint at CAA. Working with Management 360 for even longer than 13 years, Lively’s WME team includes Elyse Scherz and Michael DeVeau. Of course, this being WME, the rarely inhibited Emanuel has taken an interest in the representation of Lively and her little-known husband Ryan Reynolds.
Today, 16 months after Emanuel declared he is “ride or die” when it comes to the “good people” A-list couple, the agency made sure everyone knows the only thing that has changed is how much more they are on Team Blake.
Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Ari Emanuel
Getty Images
“Even as others have tried to turn this case into a spectacle, she has kept the focus where it belongs: on facts, accountability, and the right to speak up without fear of retaliation,” WME said of Lively today, woth a swipe at Baldoni and his sanction escaping lawyer Bryan Freeeman. “In doing so, she has helped expose the devastating harm caused by covert digital takedown campaigns designed to intimidate, discredit, and drown out the truth.”
“She and her family have our full support as this case moves to trial.”
Baldoni one had a fair degree of support at WME, but was cut loose unceremoniously in late 2024, one day after Lively made her initial claims public. Lively filed a 10-claim complaint late on December 10, 2024 with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios and others involved in It Ends With Us of sexual harassment and “a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation.”
Once called a “feud between PR firms” by the to-the-point Judge Liman, the Lively-Baldoni trial is expected to last about a month at most in federal court. Both Lively and Baldoni are almost certain to tesitify, as is Deadpool‘s Reynolds. While tentatively the likes of Lively’s pal Taylor Swift (who is godmother to one of Reynolds and Lively’s kids) and Deadpool & Wolverine’s Hugh Jackman are also on the witness list, their presence remains TBD.
