Everything You Need To Know About Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's Trial

Is Blake Livey testifying at her trial?

Blake Lively's lawyer Mike Gottlieb confirmed in an interview with People that the actress will take to the stand during the trial.

"The ultimate moment for a plaintiff's story to be told is at trial," he says. "We expect that to be the case here [with Lively]. So we would, of course, expect her to be a witness at her trial. Of course she’s going to testify.”

“There are individuals that were witnesses to or experienced misconduct that is relevant to Ms. Lively's claims [of inappropriate behavior on set],” Mike continues. “We expect their testimony, particularly about what took place on set, will come out through live witness testimony.”

But Mike Gottlieb didn't only talk about the trial — he also referenced the conversation surrounding the legal battle over the last 9 months. “We think there have been a lot of distractions put up to deflect attention from the retaliation campaign that was launched against her,” he says. “And we expect and hope that in discovery we'll have an opportunity to really focus on what we believe to be the core part of the case, which is that this retaliation campaign was launched against Ms. Lively for her having raised concerns about sexual harassment.”

When is the trial?

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively's trial is scheduled for March 2026.

What is Blake Lively suing Justin for?

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are going to court after the actress alleged Justin sexually harassed her on the set of It Ends With Us. And in December 2024, the New York Timespublished an editorial piece about the legal complaint Blake Lively filed on December 20, reporting that Justin, his publicists, and legal team members organized a smear campaign against her following the release of the movie.

Although Justin's lawyer Bryan Freedman toldPeople Blake's claim is "false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt," Blake's legal team holds firm that "this is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation."

“Sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied," the statement continues. "Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim. These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct."

What is Blake Lively accused of?

Justin filed his own defamation lawsuit on January 16, 2025 against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, their publicists, and the New York Times (the lawsuit was paused in early March). After the pause, a spokesperson for the NYT told E! News, "We appreciate the court’s decision today, which recognizes the important First Amendment values at stake here. The court has stopped Mr. Baldoni from burdening The Times with discovery requests in a case that should never have been brought against."

Blake Lively was also sued for $7 million by Jed Wallace, who she says was part of the alleged smear campaign, and in retaliation, Jed is looking for "at least $7 million and a court order stating that he didn’t engage in harassment or retaliation against the actress," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And according to Page Six, Jed is now claiming Blake asked a judge to "authorize deposing him," and that since he wasn't involved in the campaign, the whole situation cost “millions of dollars in reputational harm with a projected loss to his company that exceeds another million.”

Who else is involved in the It Ends With Us drama?

The It Ends With Us cast and author Colleen Hoover has been touched by the drama (Brandon Sklenar spoke out and Colleen Hoover deleted almost all her photos with Blake and Justin on Instagram), but it looks like Blake's BFF Taylor Swift will also be involved in the case.

After Justin Baldoni claimed Taylor Swift was present for a pivotal disagreement in his working relationship with Blake, Bryan Freedman revealed the singer could be called on in the trial. And it looks like that's exactly what will happen.

Sources toldTMZ that Bryan officially subpoenaed the popstar as a witness. But a spokespearson for Taylor Swift said in a statement that Tay "never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history."