Blake Lively said she has “so much to say” amid her legal battle with It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni.
Lively, 37, spoke to the audience at the Time 100 Gala in New York City on Thursday, April 24, after being named one of Time’s 100 most influential people earlier this month.
“I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” the actress said, appearing to refer to the drama surrounding It Ends With Us, before going on to speak about “the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”
Lively shared a poignant tribute to her mother, Elaine Lively, who was in attendance at Thursday’s event, as was her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
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The Gossip Girl star praised her mom, whom she introduced as Willie Elain McAlpin, for being a survivor “of the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.”
“I’ve watched her conceal her raw and undeserved shame my entire life, so as her daughter, being asked to share this today, is monumental. If we name it, we change it,” she continued, per footage shared via social media.
According to People, Lively shared details of her mom’s harrowing experience, which occurred before she was born.
“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born,” she said.
Lively told the audience that her mom heard another woman speaking about a “similar circumstance” on the radio, which her mom said was instrumental in saving her life.
“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped. And because of hearing that woman speak about her experience, instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today,” Lively said. “She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know.”
Lively continued, “We don’t let our daughters know, but one day we break their hearts by letting them in on the secret that we kept from them as they pranced around in princess dresses, that they are not and will likely never be safe at work, at home, in a parking lot in a medical office, online — in any space they inhabit physically, emotionally, professionally.”
“Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain,” she added.
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Lively was honored as one of Time’s 100 most influential people earlier this month. In an essay recognizing the actress, civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill praised Lively’s philanthropy. “She and her husband Ryan Reynolds reached out in 2019 to make a contribution to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,” the lawyer wrote.
Ifill continued, “I had been getting a few of these calls, as our work fighting against voter suppression and police brutality was receiving national attention. I’m always curious about the kind of research famous people do before they make that cold call to offer their support. The ones I have remained in relationship with are those who, like Blake, really did their homework. I admired immediately her curiosity, and her sincere work to understand the conditions that shape this country.”
Lively’s inclusion on the list comes four months after she filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni, her It Ends With Us costar and director, of sexual harassment, creating a “hostile work environment” and causing her “severe emotional distress” while working together on the hit film, for which Lively served as a producer.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman called Lively’s claims “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious,” alleging in a statement to Us Weekly that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” regarding the production of It Ends With Us.
In January, Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios filed a lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds, 48, and Lively’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, seeking $400 million in damages. The lawsuit included accusations of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and other claims.
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“This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook,” Lively said in response. “This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender,” the statement read. “Wayfarer has opted to use the resources of its billionaire co-founder to issue media statements, launch meritless lawsuits, and threaten litigation to overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations.”
The former costars’ legal dispute is set to go to trial on March 9, 2026.
