Blake Lively withdraws claims of emotional distress against Justin Baldoni
(NewsNation) — The drama between 'It Ends With Us' co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken a surprising new turn, as a court filing shows some claims against Baldoni have been withdrawn.
On Monday, the actress filed to dismiss her original claims of emotional distress. On Tuesday, Judge Lewis Liman, who is overseeing the lawsuit, ruled that those claims would not remain active. It was Lively's claims of emotional distress that led to Baldoni's lawyers requesting her medical information. This included therapy notes and information on her mental health providers.
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Liman said Baldoni's motion to get medical information is denied 'based on (Lively's) representation that the relevant claims will be withdrawn.' He also said that Lively didn't want to disclose the information but wanted to keep the right to re-file her claims.
However, Liman decided that 'Ms. Lively cannot have it both ways,' and he closed the case completely. Now, Lively cannot change her mind and provide medical records to keep the lawsuit alive.
Following the ruling, Lively's attorneys will be unable to use evidence of her alleged emotional distress in her case. Baldoni's attorneys declined to comment on this ruling, according to Variety.
Lively's lawyers have said Baldoni's lawyers' requesting her medical information is a 'press stunt' and filed their own motion urging the court to sanction attorneys for Baldoni, saying they abused the docket.
'It is based on two brazenly false assertions. First, they claim that Ms. Lively has 'refused' to disclose medical and mental health information, but as counsel for the Wayfarer Parties concede, that information is relevant only to Ms. Lively's stand-alone tort-based emotional distress claims that she indicated she was withdrawing,' the Lively filing argued.
As these legal battles continue, it was announced that Baldoni's foundation, Wayfarer Foundation, would be closing. Baldoni co-owned the foundation with producing partner Steve Sarowitz.
Sarowitz announced the closing on Instagram, saying, 'Upon unanimous decision of the board of directors, today (May 2) we will begin the process of sunsetting the Foundation. We will honor all of our current grant commitments as we carefully wind down operations over the next several weeks.'
Baldoni had been a board member of the foundation since 2016.
All of this comes after Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment. One insider told NewsNation in February that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 'have no idea what's coming down the pike.'
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Another source told NewsNation in February that no one wanted to work with Lively since the lawsuits started.
Then, Baldoni filed a suit that claimed he had to deal with being defamed and alleged extortion attempts. He had also filed a libel suit against The New York Times before it was paused in March. A trial for the Lively suit against Baldoni has been scheduled for March 2026.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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