Who actually won in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni case? It depends on who you ask … and how comfortable you are holding two completely different versions of reality at the same time.
Hours after the legal dispute was officially settled — less than two weeks before it was set to go to trial in New York — both sides were already doing what high-profile legal teams do best: declaring victory.
“I can’t talk about the terms of the settlement,” Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said, before doing exactly that in spirit. “What I can tell you is that he is ecstatic … they are very pleased with where this ended up.”
On the other side, the actress’s attorneys didn’t bother with subtlety.
“This settlement is a resounding victory for Blake Lively,” they said.
And for Lively, that victory lap isn’t over. Days after the settlement, Lively’s lawyers said they are still seeking attorneys’ fees, damages and other penalties from the case, which Freedman brushed off in an Entertainment Tonight interview on Thursday.
“I think they have their own interpretation of what they think is the law,” he said. “I think it’s a procedural motion that’s left in the case — it’s pretty standard — but when you want to parade around and call a loss a victory, this is your attempt to do so. It seems like more nonsense from Ms. Lively.”
And just like that, we arrive at the central paradox of modern celebrity litigation: Everyone wins. At least, publicly.
Because in cases like this — the kind that play out not just in courtrooms but across headlines, TikToks and group chats — “winning” isn’t a fixed outcome. It’s a framing exercise. A press strategy. A carefully worded statement designed to land exactly how it’s supposed to.
The result? Two opposing sides, two confident narratives and one very confused audience trying to figure out what actually happened.
So if everyone’s claiming a win, it’s worth taking a closer look at what that really means.
The obvious winners: the lawyers
If the outcome feels confusing, that’s because it’s designed to be.
“In high-profile litigation, it’s not uncommon for both sides to publicly claim victory,” entertainment lawyer Jordan Matthews tells Yahoo. Whether it’s a court decision or a settlement, each side can point to something — a dismissed claim, a surviving argument — and frame it as proof they were right all along.
That dynamic was on full display here.
“When the judge dismissed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims, Baldoni was able to argue that was evidence he did nothing wrong,” Matthews says. “On the other hand, Lively claims victory because her retaliation claim survived, which she argues was the main focus of her lawsuit.”
In other words, both narratives can technically be true and completely at odds.
“The bottom line is both parties are trying to control the narrative and want the last word,” Matthews adds.
And if that sounds less like a legal outcome and more like a PR strategy, that’s because the two are often intertwined.
“The only real winners here were the lawyers, who racked up tens of millions of dollars in legal fees in a case that went nowhere,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, tells Yahoo. “Both sides claiming victory for a case that was completely gutted at the end is nothing more than public relations spin.”
Because in cases like this, a “win” isn’t always about proving something in court. Sometimes it’s about avoiding the risk of doing so and walking away with a version of the story you can live with.
The losers: us (and, specifically, our brain cells)
At some point, many of us unintentionally moonlighted as lawyers.
Yes, I can claim some of the reading was for work. (But it’s just some.) Mostly it was because I — and everyone in my group chats had to know more — especially in those early waves in December 2024 and early 2025, which now somehow feel like they happened in a different lifetime.
There were filings. There were countersuits. There were text messages that launched a thousand headlines. Every update raised more questions than it answered, and yet we kept reading anyway.
Because that’s the trap of a story like this: It’s just complicated enough to feel important and just messy enough to keep you hooked.
Justin Baldoni arrives at court for continued settlement talks in New York City in February 2026.
(John Nacion via Getty Images)The real losers: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
For all the talk of legal wins, the bigger picture is harder to spin.
This was a case that played out in the court of public opinion from the very beginning and once people picked a side, they largely stayed there.
Scroll through social media at any point over the past few months and it was clear: Opinions hardened early, and nothing that followed seemed likely to change them. Every filing became evidence. Every leaked message became ammunition. Every new detail was parsed, reposted and folded neatly into whatever narrative people had already decided was true.
It didn’t feel like a story that was unfolding so much as one that was being reinforced in real time.
That’s the reality of something this visible. Even when both sides walk away claiming victory, the outcome doesn’t reset perception. If anything, it just gives each camp one last chance to argue their case.
That’s part of what makes settlements like this so common in the first place.
“Both sides are ultimately deciding it’s in their best interest — financially, reputationally or otherwise — to resolve the case and move forward,” Hollywood lawyer and mediator Angela Reddock-Wright tells Yahoo.
Which makes sense on paper. But in practice, “moving forward” isn’t always so clean.
For Lively and Baldoni, that means the real takeaway isn’t what happened legally; it’s how it all played out on the world stage. Any time either star circles a project, there will be rumblings about whether “the drama” surrounding either celebrity is worth it.
Their names — and their reputations — have been dragged through the mud in full view of the public, fairly or not. And once that kind of narrative takes hold, it’s not something a settlement neatly erases.
The one who (mostly) escaped: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift was dragged into the lawsuit.
(Christopher Polk via Getty Images)
OK, to be clear: It wasn’t exactly a peaceful few weeks to be the superstar online.
She was pulled into the mess when private text messages between Lively and Baldoni surfaced as part of the legal proceedings — including one in which Lively referred to Swift as one of her “dragons,” a detail Baldoni’s legal team quickly seized on in an effort to suggest outside influence and escalate the stakes of the dispute.
Then, as these things tend to do, the noise faded. Until it didn’t.
Another round of messages — this time between Lively and Swift — made their way into the conversation, reigniting speculation about where everyone actually stands. The details were parsed, the internet did what it does best, and Swift notably did what she does best: stayed quiet.
Since then she’s kept a low profile, avoided adding fuel to the fire and, perhaps most important, avoided becoming part of the story for too long.
Which, in a moment like this, is its own kind of win.
As for where things stand between Swift and Lively? That’s harder to read. These relationships tend to reveal themselves eventually — at a birthday party, a public appearance or, in this case, maybe even a wedding.
The one who came out clean (or at least cleaner): Jenny Slate
Blake Lively and Jenny Slate at the It Ends With Us New York premiere in August 2024.
(John Nacion via Getty Images)
To be clear, the It Ends With Us star wasn’t untouched by any of this.
She was part of the broader situation, her name circulating as the case unfolded, but somehow, almost impressively, she remained a footnote instead of a headline.
In a media cycle that tends to flatten everyone into main characters, Slate never quite crossed that line. She acknowledged the moment, briefly and carefully, in a way that felt measured and then did something that’s increasingly rare in these situations: She moved on.
Or at least she acted like she did.
While the noise churned, Slate stayed focused on work. She’s in production on The Ark and the Aardvark alongside Miles Teller and Aubrey Plaza. No overexplaining. No attempts to control the narrative. No visible scrambling.
Just a quiet, seemingly strategic choice to let the moment pass.
And in an environment where everyone else is reacting in real time, that “wait until it blows over” approach can read less like avoidance and more like discipline. So far, it’s working.