Blake Lively’s Legal Battle With Justin Baldoni Takes A Turn In Her Favor

The legal battle between Lively and Baldoni began in December 2024, when the “Gossip Girl” alum sued Baldoni for sexual harassment, alleging that he made inappropriate remarks about her and Ryan Reynolds’ private life and openly discussed his past struggles with pornography addiction.

Now, the case has taken a turn as a judge has granted Blake Lively’s request for a protective order, preventing Baldoni from publicly releasing sensitive material related to the case.

According to court documents obtained by Page Six on Thursday, Lively’s legal team expressed concerns that Baldoni might leak private videos, emails, and text messages, some of which reportedly involve high-profile individuals, including her famous friends.

The ruling ensures that certain evidence, including non-public photographs, videos, audio recordings, personal relationship details, and medical or mental health records, will be deemed confidential and restricted to attorneys’ eyes only.

However, a loophole in the ruling allows that any documents submitted as evidence during the trial in March 2026 will not be sealed, making them accessible to the public.

Despite this, Lively’s legal team considers the ruling a victory.

“The Court rejected the Wayfarer Parties’ objections and entered the protections needed to ensure the free flow of discovery material without any risk of witness intimidation or harm to any individual’s security,” her team told TMZ.

“With this order in place, Ms. Lively will move forward in the discovery process to obtain even more of the evidence that will prove her claims in Court,” they added.

Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, also responded to the ruling, telling Page Six that they agreed with the decision’s “narrow scope of protections.” However, Freedman took issue with what he described as Lively’s “exceedingly overbroad demand for documents” spanning two and a half years.

“We remain focused on the necessary communications that will directly contradict Ms. Lively’s unfounded accusations,” Freedman added. “We will oppose any efforts by Ms. Lively and her team to hamper our clients’ ability to defend against her attacks by incorrectly categorizing important information as ‘trade secrets.’”

The ruling follows a March 6 hearing, where Lively’s legal team argued that without a protective order, there was a “significant chance of irreparable harm” to high-profile individuals with no relevance to the case if certain communications were made public.

Baldoni’s team did not contest the need for confidentiality protections.

After Lively’s initial filing, Baldoni countersued in January 2025, filing a $400 million defamation lawsuit against his co-star and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

He also launched a website displaying text message exchanges with Lively, which he claimed refuted her allegations. Baldoni’s legal team, headed by prominent attorney Bryan Freedman, informed TMZ that the website will be regularly updated to present a transparent, factual account of events. Their aim is to give the public access to the evidence, allowing them to draw their own conclusions. However, it seems that with the judge’s latest order, this will no longer be the case.

One document on the website includes multiple text exchanges between Baldoni and Lively, offering insight into their professional dynamic during the development of the movie.

A standout conversation from February 2023 captures Baldoni sharing script revisions with Lively as they worked together to refine the film. The messages suggest that beyond discussing the screenplay, they were also establishing a sense of trust and collaboration as co-stars.

In response to Baldoni’s notes, Lively reassured him by replying, “You’re safe here,” implying that he could express his thoughts openly without fear of judgment in their creative discussions.

In addition to the website, and in response to Lively’s December 20 sexual harassment complaint, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, released behind-the-scenes footage from the set of the 2024 hit film.

The video was presented as evidence to challenge Lively’s allegations, including a claim regarding an interaction during a “slow dance scene” in the movie.

Lively alleged that Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear down her neck,” while whispering, ‘It smells so good.’ However, the released footage offers a different perspective.

In the clip, Lively can be heard joking, “I’m probably getting spray tan on you,” to which Baldoni laughs and replies, “It smells good.”

As the case moves forward, all eyes will be on the courtroom showdown set for March 2026.