Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are waiting for a judge’s decision on the actress’s request for a stricter protective order. The legal teams for both parties have shared their perspectives in this ongoing process.
During the Thursday, March 6, hearing, Lively’s attorney claimed that Baldoni’s team “created improper disclosure of information.”
During a recent hearing, Lively’s lawyer emphasized the need to prevent the public disclosure of certain information related to the case. The lawyer pointed out the importance of minimizing the burden on third parties involved and requested dropping a subpoena against the security firm protecting Lively and Reynolds.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for 41-year-old Baldoni, denounced the claims in his own statement before the judge.
On the other side, Baldoni’s representative, Freedman, highlighted that the issue revolves around maintaining confidentiality with ‘for attorney’s eyes only’ restrictions. He stressed that there is no intention to harm Lively and that his client deserves a fair opportunity to defend himself against the allegations.
Lively’s team further wanted to protect her private correspondence with “high-profile individuals.”
“There is a significant chance of irreparable harm if marginal conversations with high-profile individuals with no relevance to the case were to fall into wrong hands,” her attorney claimed.
Freedman, meanwhile, replied, “We cannot treat celebrity people, and people who are powerful in the industry differently from other people.”
While an official ruling was not made on Thursday, the judge shared the decision would be “soon.”
News broke in February that Lively, 37, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, requested a stronger PO than the standard one they were granted when she and It Ends With Us costar Baldoni first filed their lawsuits.
“As detailed in Ms. Lively’s Amended Complaint, Ms. Lively, her family, other members of the cast, various fact witnesses, and individuals that have spoken out publicly in support of Ms. Lively have received violent, profane, sexist, and threatening communications,” a letter from Lively and Reynolds, 48, read, noting Lively was seeking “additional protections.”
Lively previously named Baldoni in a December 2024 lawsuit, claiming that he sexually harassed her and fostered a “hostile work environment” on the set of 2024’s It Ends With Us. She amended her complaint last month, detailing the alleged “emotional impact” she is facing from the legal fallout.
“The emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme, not only affecting her, but her family, including her husband and four children,” court docs obtained by Us read. “There are days when she has struggled to get out of bed, and she frequently chooses not to venture outside in public.”
Lively also claimed that she has received multiple violent social media messages amid the legal drama. Baldoni has denied all of the allegations. He also filed a defamation lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds earlier this year. (The married couple, meanwhile, denied the accusations.)
“Anyone receiving violent messages by anonymous parties is abhorrent. When private parties were wrongfully accused by Lively and her paid team of wrongdoing, they received continuous death threats and visits to private homes where young children reside after their addresses were leaked on her initial complaints,” Baldoni’s team told Us in a February statement regarding Lively’s protective order request. “No one should have to face that, especially private parties who do not have means for security detail. We do not condone dangerous rhetoric targeted toward anyone no matter the situation.”
