Blake Lively seeks $8 million in legal fees from Justin Baldoni and his studio | Blake Lively

Blake Lively has filed for $8 million in fees and costs, which she says stem from her fight against Justin Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios.

This figure is intended to cover the legal costs Lively incurred from January to June 2025 in her battle against her director and co-star in the 2024 film It Ends With Us, as well as a damages petition that was still pending when Lively v Baldoni was settled in May 2026.

In January 2025, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for civil racketeering, defamation, and invasion of privacy after she filed an initial complaint of sexual harassment the previous month. Baldoni’s defamation suit was dismissed in June 2025.

Following Lively and Baldoni’s settlement of their lawsuit in early May, a federal judge ruled in June of this year that Lively was “entitled to recover fees and costs” resulting from her legal battle against Baldoni’s countersuit.

Lively has now detailed the $8,035,040 in fees and costs she incurred fighting Baldoni’s lawsuit.

“Lively requests that the court award her reasonable attorneys’ fees in the amount of $7,495,526.87 and costs in the amount of $539,514.01,” a letter from the actress’s legal team on June 30 read.

In a 15-page legal memo, Lively’s lawyers rebuked Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios for “scorched earth tactics intended to deplete Lively’s resources.”

Lively’s attorneys, Gottlieb and Hudson, also called Baldoni and his team “a near-daily press campaign promoting their sham lawsuit, making expansive and irrelevant discovery demands, obstructing discovery directed at them and their third parties, and forcing Lively to seek repeated relief from the court to rein in their abusive filings.”

The memo also describes Baldoni’s counterclaim as an attempt to discredit her. “This egregious violation of the legal system was not intended to win in court,” the letter read. “Her goal was to retaliate against Lively by falsely calling her a liar, intimidating witnesses and the media, and discouraging others from speaking out.”

“Thanks to this landmark decision, those who consider using a lawsuit as a weapon of intimidation have been put on notice that there are consequences for doing so,” Lively’s lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Isra Hudson, said in a statement to The Guardian.

“The value of this ruling lies in the precedent it creates, the accountability it imposes, and the protection it provides to those who may one day find themselves facing similar retaliation for telling the truth.”

Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have until July 13 to decide whether to agree to pay Lively’s $8 million costs or appeal her claim. The Guardian contacted Baldoni’s lawyer for comment.