Blake Lively initially launched a sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni – who has strongly refuted the claims – after the pair worked together on It Ends With Us
Blake Lively has spoken out for the first time since she was cleared in the $400million (£294million) defamation and extortion lawsuit filed by her It Ends with Us collaborator Justin Baldoni.
The actress’ powerful statement comes just hours after a judge dismissed Justin’s case. Blake, 37, said on Instagram: “Last week, I stood proudly alongside 19 organisations united in defending women’s rights to speak up for their safety.
“Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us. While the suit against me was defeated, so many don’t have the resources to fight back.”
Blake initially launched a sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin – who has strongly refuted the claims. However, he hit back with the $400million defamation claim against her, her publicist and husband Ryan Reynolds, all of whom have dismissed the accusations.
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But after the judge chucked out Justin’s claims, a source close to the Los Angeles-born actress said: “Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit.”
The row happened after Blake and Justin, 41, starred together in It Ends With Us, a romcom released last year. The alleged sexual harassment occurred during production for that film, which Justin directed.
But now, speaking after the dismissal, Blake added she was “more resolved than ever to continue to stand for every woman’s right to have a voice in protecting themselves, including their safety, their integrity, their dignity and their story”.
The Gossip Girl actress, who has four children with Ryan Reynolds, “With love and gratitude for the many who stood by me, many of you I know. Many of you I don’t. But I will never stop appreciating or advocating for you.”
Last month, Blake’s pal Taylor Swift was dragged into the scandal when she was officially subpoenaed to appear as a witness. The pop star was delivered a legal notice by Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman – a decision which had been slammed by her team as a tactic to create clickbait.
In a move that appeared to please Blake and Taylor, it was confirmed Justin would no longer be calling on the Bad Blood hitmaker to appear as a witness. Bryan Freedman had claimed Blake had called on “her high-profile friends” including Taylor to “manipulate Justin at every turn.”
Taylor, who is close friends with Blake, licensed her hit song My Tears Ricochet to be used in the film but was not involved in the making of It Ends With Us, said her reps. Justin has denied all allegations brought about by Blake.