Justin Baldoni says ‘we are healing’ in 1st public remarks amid Blake Lively legal dispute

Justin Baldoni and his wife, Emily Baldoni, are speaking publicly for the first time in nearly two years as the legal dispute between Baldoni and his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively continues.

In a joint video shared to Instagram on Wednesday, the couple said they had chosen not to speak publicly earlier while the legal process played out.

In April, a federal judge dismissed much of Lively’s case against Baldoni, including her claims that she was subjected to sexual harassment, but allowed her to pursue a retaliation claim against Baldoni’s public relations teams.

Baldoni, via his Wayfarer Studios production company, and Lively later agreed to settle but remain tied up in a court fight over legal fees.

“So we have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say because lord knows we have,” Justin Baldoni said in the video. “But it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to — it just didn’t feel like the right time.”

Emily Baldoni added, “And this feels like the moment.”

The couple said there is “so much to say” but that they were not going to say it all now.

“What does feel important is that we can genuinely say that we are sitting here today feeling immense gratitude for so many things and so many people and so many things that have happened to us,” Emily Baldoni said.

“Gratitude has saved us,” Justin Baldoni added.

Emily Baldoni said that gratitude “doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years.”

“We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like how could something like this even happen? Let alone disguise[d] as a fight for women,” she said.

Justin Baldoni said the couple chose not to contribute to “the noise” surrounding the case.

“We just wanted to let the justice system run its course,” he said.

Emily Baldoni added, “The truth and the facts have spoken for themselves. And here we are.”

Justin Baldoni said the family is continuing to recover from the experience.

“We are healing,” he said. “And if you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear. It looks different every day.”

He said the experience has helped the couple focus on “the kids, it’s our family, it is our friends, it’s our community … it’s our faith.”

Justin Baldoni also thanked supporters who stood by the family.

“There were so many of you who, when we didn’t have a voice, were our voice,” he said. “Thank you does not feel like enough.”

Emily Baldoni said the couple plans to continue focusing on their family.

“There is so much more to say, and that time will come. But for now, we are going to focus on continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life.”

The video comes days after attorneys for Lively said in a court filing that Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, owes the actress $7,495,526.87 in attorneys’ fees connected to the studio’s defamation lawsuit against her, which was dismissed in June 2025. According to the filing, Lively is also seeking $539,514.01 in costs and expenses related to the dismissed case.

The filing came after U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s request for punitive damages but allowed her to seek attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1, a law designed to protect people who report sexual assault, harassment or discrimination from retaliatory defamation lawsuits.

The legal dispute between the former It Ends With Us co-stars began in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film, which he also directed.

Lively also accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of attempting to orchestrate a smear campaign against her, allegations Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have denied.

The two later filed competing lawsuits against one another. Baldoni accused Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, the couple’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, and others of extortion and defamation, among other claims. The lawsuits were consolidated into one case in January 2025.

Baldoni’s lawsuit was dismissed by Liman in June 2025. Earlier this year, the judge also dismissed most of Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni while allowing her retaliation claims against Baldoni’s public relations team to proceed.

In May, Baldoni, through Wayfarer Studios, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute. Liman ruled that Wayfarer Studios must pay Lively’s attorneys’ fees but denied Lively’s request for punitive damages. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

ABC News has reached out to representatives for Lively for comment on the Baldonis’ Instagram video.