Blake Lively is seeking over US$160 million in damages due to an alleged smear campaign launched against her during the release of the film It Ends With Us.
In a newly unsealed court filing, viewed by People, Lively claimed she lost $56.2 million in past and future earnings from acting, speaking engagements and endorsements.
The documents, originally submitted in July, claim that the 38-year-old actor also suffered $71 million in lost business profits from her haircare line, Blake Brown, and her beverage companies, Betty Buzz and Betty Booze.
Her legal team also alleges Lively has suffered $34 million in reputational harm due to “defamatory statements.”
In her lawsuit, which was first filed on Dec. 31, 2024, Lively’s legal team stated that her damages exceeded $75,000. But in a disclosure provided to the defence in the new documents, her team argued that she has suffered at least $161 million in actual damages.
Her lawyers will also seek at least three times that in punitive damages, according to Variety.
Lively’s disclosure notes that her damages figure is preliminary and subject to proof via expert testimony at trial, per the filing.
The documents came after a final judgment was entered in her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni’s $400-million defamation and extortion countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds after Baldoni missed the deadline to file an amended complaint.
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Last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman signed an order stating that Baldoni, 41, and his production company Wayfarer Studios had let the deadline lapse after the court dismissed the case in June.
Liman said he’d contacted all parties on Oct. 17 to let them know he’d be entering a final judgment to conclude the case.
Lively was the only one to respond, asking the judge to finalize the dismissal and keep her request for legal fees open, which the judge agreed to.
Baldoni may still appeal the dismissal after the court decides Lively’s pending motion for legal fees, according to E! News.
Liman previously dismissed Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios’ lawsuit on June 9, but allowed him and his legal team to amend the complaint to change the “allegations relevant to the claims of tortious interference with contract and breach of implied covenant.”
Liman also ruled that Baldoni’s claims that Lively stole creative control of the film didn’t count as extortion under California law.
“The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged,” Liman wrote in the opinion and order filing. “The Wayfarer Parties have alleged that Reynolds and (publicist Leslie) Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Times made additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign.
“But the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law.
“The Wayfarer Parties’ additional claims also fail. Accordingly, the Amended Complaint must be dismissed in its entirety.”
The judge also dismissed Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, which had reported on Lively’s sexual harassment allegations.
Baldoni’s suit was seeking at least $400 million for damages that included lost future income. The lawsuit from Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios, which also named Sloane as a defendant, came about two weeks after Lively sued Baldoni and several others tied to the film, alleging harassment and a co-ordinated campaign to attack her reputation for coming forward about her treatment on the set.
Lively sought unspecified damages when she sued Baldoni in late December 2024 for alleged sexual harassment and retaliation. The trial is currently set to take place in March 2026.
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