Blake Lively has been awarded $400,000 in legal fees from actor Justin Baldoni following their legal dispute, a fraction of the $8 million she had sought. The ruling comes after a judge in New York ordered Baldoni to pay Lively $407,451.75 in attorneys' fees and costs.
This payout represents approximately five percent of the amount Lively initially requested to cover her defense against Baldoni's $400 million defamation lawsuit. The settlement between the two actors was reached in May of this year after a judge dismissed most of Lively's claims.
Legal Proceedings
Lively, 38, had sued Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment on the set of the film "It Ends With Us," in which they both starred and Baldoni directed. She also included a defamation claim.
Baldoni, 42, retaliated in the months following with a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times, which had initially published Lively's allegations. In October 2025, a judge dismissed Baldoni's case.
In a subsequent order, Judge Lewis Liman directed the clerk of court to enter judgment for Lively, awarding $363,245.40 in attorneys' fees and $44,206.35 in costs. The total award of $407,451.75 is a stark contrast to the colossal sums Lively had claimed. She had asserted that Baldoni owed her $7,495,526.87 in fees and $539,514.01 in costs for the 10 months she spent defending herself.
Court documents revealed that Lively's legal team had billed at rates such as $155 for a six-minute phone call and $1,400 for an overnight stay at a five-star hotel. Baldoni's legal team had previously characterized Lively's demand for $8.3 million in legal fees as "deeply flawed," with Judge Liman appearing to agree with their assertion that the sums were "excessive" and "exorbitant."