Breaking Down the TRUTH About Why Blake Lively Settled with Justin Baldoni For ZERO Money

The big news yesterday was the settlement two weeks before trial of the case brought by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni and his movie studio, not to mention the PR team representing him.This came as a big shock to most because so far they had been saying all along, there'll be no settlement.Like we're gonna see this through right to the bitter end and a bitter end it was indeed.I want to take you back before we kick this off to what Brian Friedman, who represented Justin Baldoni, to what he said to me back in January 2025, right after this thing was filed.He's a friend.He's also my own personal attorney, and he will make your life very unpleasant if you come after me.

But that's an aside.He came on the show, and he talked about what was going to happen.in this litigation.You remember what happened was Blake Lively, just as a quick primer, she starred in this movie, It Ends With Us, with Justin Baldoni.He had purchased the rights to that Colleen Hoover novel.It was his film.

He agreed with Blake Lively that she would star in it, and she agreed to that just to be the star, not the co -writer, not the co -director.She had an executive producer credit, but that's meaningless.It's just like a vanity plate.When she did the movie, she started to complain that he was allegedly doing things inappropriate on the set, that she felt like he was writing in sex scenes that weren't there and other allegations.And they took a break during COVID.And when they came back, she wanted him to sign this long rider of all the things he promised he would not do, like go into her dressing room unannounced, as she claimed had allegedly been done with.

We would later learn that she invited him into the dressing room while she was breastfeeding, something she would complain about in the lawsuit.Even though she said, I'm breastfeeding, and he said, oh, I can come later.She said, no, come now.OK, there was such a list of those things where if you just heard her half of it, you were like, oh, God, he's terrible.And then you heard the other half of it.It was like, oh, wow, she's terrible.

for misleading me in this way.So she filed that.She filed first a complaint with the California human rights department.And then somehow, I mean, gee, who knows?It wound up in the New York times.I don't, I have no idea how the New York times got wind of her super confidential complaint with the California human human rights division.

But lo and behold, the New York times, they're good scoopers.And they found out, uh, shortly thereafter we had, we had cross lawsuits.She sued Baldoni and Wayfarer and Justin's PR team, claiming that they had unleashed, that she'd been discriminated against, sexually harassed, and then that they had retaliated against her when she complained with the California Human Rights Division and with them internally.And he cross -claimed against her too for defamation of character and so on and so forth.The litigation proceeded.He was very aggressive in his defense and very aggressive in his PR, thanks to his lawyer, Brian Friedman, who, let me tell you, has been through this a time or two.

I mean, his representation of me in my battle with NBC was one of the first huge litigations that he'd handled that was equally big on the PR front battle and on the legal battle.And Brian is equally gifted at both.And he understood in this case, and he's handled so many in between, but he understood in this case that both were going to be equally necessary here.In fact, The truth is the PR battle was even more important in this lawsuit.So we spoke to him weeks after the New York Times article dropped on this program, and he made a prediction about how this was going to go for Blake Lively.I think it's that too.

What's your prediction of where things go from here?

I mean, you know, my prediction is that this is going to get worse and worse for Blake Lively.And the reason it's going to get worse and worse is people are going to be more comfortable telling the truth.And what this is about is really the truth.And she's put Jamie Heath and Justin Baldoni in this position of being called sexual predators, sexual harassers.They have no choice but to go all the way.No choice.

So, you know, we're going to go all the way.And the unique thing, again, in this case is going to be we're going to put every single text message out there.We're going to put every email out there.We're going to put every document out there that's relevant to the case, not something that's disrespectful or otherwise would embarrass Miss Lively, because that's not what we want to do.But we want to make sure that people have the facts and people can make their own determinations as to what happened.And that would prove to be devastating to Blake Lively.

It's the reason she settled, because they never relented.They kept confronting her via the media with the truth about her behavior toward Justin Baldoni and toward the press and toward others and all the things she did that made everyone loathe her.And it was devastating for her.Her reputation is in tatters.It is in ruins.Thanks for watching.

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That's MK to 989898 today.They put out a joint statement.And I want you, I want to read you the joint statement and take you through it from a legal perspective.Okay.It's remarkable.It is a huge accomplishment for the Baldoni defense team.

It reads as follows, a joint statement, okay, so they're both, all of them, signing on to this.The end product, the movie, it ends with us, is a source of pride to all of us who work to bring it to life.Raising awareness and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors and all survivors is a goal that we stand behind.Okay, generic, go see our movie, it was a good one.Then we get to the meat of it.We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Miss Lively deserved to be heard.

Now, I'm going to guarantee I haven't talked to Brian.I guarantee you that that line there was the subject of about 200 revisions back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.Right.I can feel it getting watered down and watered down and watered down from like Blake Lively had righteous claims that she was correct to bring.Unfortunately, they were thrown out by a judge and whatever.But this is the best you could do.

Whatever.I'm sure it sounded much more favorable to Blake Lively when it was first drafted.Instead, we wind up withprocess of making the movie presented challenges and we recognize concerns raised by Lively deserve to be heard.So good.I mean, honestly, every defense lawyer out there is like, that's excellent.

It's the best you could ever hope for.We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.There is nothing, nothing in here about sexual harassment, nothing, or retaliation.Just workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.You could be talking about people who leave early and who are lazy on the set.That does not in any way suggest any sexual harassment, nevermind retaliation.

It is as anodyne a statement as you could get.It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace.That's Team Blake saying, please don't hurt us anymore, Brian Friedman.But you're the one who started this.Including a respectful environment online.That's a message for all of us.

to stop saying nasty things about Blake Lively.Well, I hate to break it to you, Team Blake, but I didn't sign a settlement agreement, and I'm totally free and emboldened to say whatever I want about you, including that you're a liar.You're a liar, and your legal team are a bunch of liars.Remember when you subpoenaed me in this case, trying to get my documents on you?This happened.They subpoenaed me. me, my company, and tried to come out after my documents that my team and I put together before we covered her on this show, before we interviewed Brian Friedman on the show.

They actually had the gall to ask for my attorney -client communications between me and mylawyer, thinking we had nothing better to discuss than Blake Lively.And I told her to pound sand.I hired a lawyer, this outside lawyer, because Brian was handling this case.I didn't want him to have to be conflicted.And the lawyer went in, objected, and they lost.

They were forced to stand down.And then she had the nerve, when she was forced to stand down, to come out and say, we never subpoenaed Megyn Kelly, which was a lie.I can show you the document with my name on it, asking for my documents.I had to hire a lawyer and go into court and defend it.And I won.So I know they're liars.

I know they're liars from the complaint that they filed against Justin, which Brian bit by bit undermined with proof, with proof that she had taken things out of context, that she was determined to paint herself as a victim.I'm telling you, this woman, Blake Lively, I think she has Munchausen's.If one word of what she alleged was sincere in her head, she has Munchausen's.Or like she tries to make something bad happen to her.She like insists that she has to be a victim because like something terrible's happened to her.It's like some form of Munchausen's.

Either that or she's just a bald -faced liar who made the whole thing up because she understood that she was suffering, PR -wise, thanks to her own bad deeds, and she wanted somebody to blame it on.She wanted someone to blame it on.The Daily Mail today, I want to give credit where it's due.I think it's the Daily Mail, not the Post, but is reporting not one dollar exchanged hands.Not one dollar.TMZ also has it.

Not one dollar.He didn't pay her one red cent.Can you believe that?That is a total and complete victory for him with this anodyne statement and she dismisses all charges.It is a complete and total win for Justin Baldoni and it is a complete and total surrender.by Blake Lively and admission that she had no claims.

She won't be forced to do it publicly.She was allowed to save face by just saying, oh, we settled it and give this statement.You know, we both agree on appropriate workplaces.Now she's going to run around and she's going to try to paint herself as like, I can't talk about it because of an NDA, but like, you know, wink, wink, we, we care about workplaces.And I care about women.I care.

I deeply care.And the press is going to let her get away with that.But the public is not.And this is where I want to offer a free PR lesson.to Blake Lively, to Meghan Markle, another person who wasn't at the Met Gala, even though her good friends, the Kardashians, were all there, and very tight with the co -chair, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, couldn't quite manage to get an invite for that loser.But both women need the same lesson, and I am just the gal to provide it.

When you come under withering attack by the media, which happens to virtually every public figure at one point or another in his or her life.There is only one play.Be quiet and take it.I know you can go out there and you can complain.You can fight back.It's fine to correct the record.

If somebody's saying, you know what you stole from a bank, it's fine for you to say that is not true.Ideally, without too much emotion, you can correct the record, but don't make a huge deal out of it.Don't call additional attention to the terrible things being said about you.right?Like, whatever, at least let time pass, you know, ideally months before you get out there and subtly say something about it, because it only calls more attention to the negative thing that's being said about you.And on top of that,

Americans don't want to hear it.They don't want to hear it.They don't care about your PR problems.Blake Lively, you're married to Ryan Reynolds.He's reportedly worth $400 million.You yourself reportedly earned $21 million in the eight years preceding the filing of this lawsuit, according to those involved in the case.

So you're earning, what, $4 million and change per film?That's not bad for you.You're really not that talented.You're really just the gossip girl.actress.Your life is grand.

You have four wonderful children.You live in some huge mansion, I think up in Bedford, New York or someplace in the sort of hills of Connecticut.You're doing great.Shut up.You got your liquor company.You got your hair company.

The fuck up about your bad PR, which amounted to like a month's worth of negative articles, which he didn't even generate.But honestly, even if he had shut up, we don't care.America has its own problems, and they look like real problems, not your stupid problems.Have I had bad things said about me in the Daily Mail or the New York Post?Oh, cry me a river.You ruined your own reputation by telegraphing to the world that you could not take a rhetorical punch in the face, that you were so thin -skinned you had to run and file a lawsuit, and on top of that, try to ruin a man with less power than you.

It's one thing for a bully to take on someone of equal or greater power.It's almost impossible, actually, to be dubbed a bully in those circumstances.If you have equal or the other person has greater power than you, you're not bullying them at all.That wasn't the case here.She and her dragons, Taylor Swift and Ryan Reynolds, her best friend and her husband, and Blake herself, had way more power than Justin Baldoni, and she was determined to ruin his life, to dub him as a meat -eater.-er, as a sexual predator, to misrepresent his emails, his behavior on set, that of his partners from Wayfarer, and she did not care at all.

She just wanted to cloak herself in fake Me Too glory.She was a Me Too stolen valor thief, and had she just taken it, Had she let us beat her up for her admittedly, well, I mean, not admitted by her, but the rest of us admit terrible behavior in her interview with that Nordic journalist.I like your baby about two.Why do they always ask us about our fashion?Where they ask that of the man, but Parker Posey, you're awful too.Had she just taken it?

Cause she would have realized shit.I was bad there.I should have just, I mishandled that.And, and ideally issued an apology to that young woman.Had she come out and said, you know what?Some of my tone around the promo of a domestic violence movie, it may have been off.

Let me explain it to you in an interview.We actually thought maybe that was the better way to promote it.But now having seen it, I understand how it was perceived as insensitive, whatever.You could have handled it like that, but instead you filed a lawsuit and you tried to viciously ruin a man's life.And for that, we do not forgive you.You haven't sought forgiveness.

You don't seem sorrowful or regretful at all.In fact, I believe you'd do it again.So now you'll have to live with the consequences of calling attention to your own bad behavior, the reasons people disliked you, which got amplified, the Streisand effect, times 2 ,000.Everyone's seen these terrible clips of you, whereas they wouldn't have before.It would have been a small one -month deal at most.You're the one who made it an unforgettable two -year saga for all of us, and you've ruined your career.

No director wants to work with you.They know you're gonna do this to them.They know you're a nightmare, that you're a terrorist.That's what the Sony executive who was responsible for putting this movie out called you, a terrorist.

Thanks for watching this clip.

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