Blake Lively Wants Justin Baldoni to Pay $8 Million as Their Case Winds Down

Blake Lively is seeking $8 million from Justin Baldoni to cover her legal bills. The request is the final financial ask of their bitter dispute over the filming of It Ends With Us.

Justin Baldoni faces Blake Lively’s $8 million attorneys’ fees request

The money covers part of what Lively spent dismantling Baldoni’s defamation countersuit. It was the one he fired back with after she accused him of sexual harassment on the It Ends With Us set and of running a smear campaign against her.

While the pair settled last month, Lively walked away with no damages payment. What she did secure was a judge’s ruling that she qualifies for legal costs under a California law shielding harassment victims from retaliatory defamation claims.

Lively had hired two nationally recognized attorneys to fight the case. Michael Gottlieb at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Esra Hudson at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips steered her through six months of litigation in early 2025. Court filings show Gottlieb alone logged 224 hours and charged roughly $457,000 after applying a 15% discount — bringing his average rate to $2,187 an hour. His firm collected around $4.5 million. Hudson’s firm billed another $2.9 million, also at a reduced rate.

Together they torpedoed Baldoni’s defamation suit. In their fee motion, Lively’s lawyers called the lawsuit a “gross abuse of the legal system” designed to punish her for speaking out. They argued they prevailed on “every conceivable measure” by killing the case outright.

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman sees things differently. He pegged Lively’s total legal spend between $30 million and $60 million and suggested her team fell short of their real goals. “When you bring a case and you hope to prevail on that case, if you have the evidence to show that you’re right, you go to trial,” Freedman said. “It was really easy for us to end up in a trial” (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The judge will set the final amount once Justin Baldoni files his reply.

Source: Comingsoon.net