Justin Baldoni Friend Reveals the Emotional Toll of Blake Lively’s Legal Battle

Quick update on the Baldoni vs. Lively mess: they settled. No jury, no live courtroom play-by-play. Relief all around, but it is not exactly confetti time yet.

So what actually got resolved?

• On Monday, May 4, Blake Lively, 38, and Justin Baldoni, 42, reached a settlement in their It Ends With Us lawsuit, which kicked off back in December 2024.
• The trial was set for New York City, with jury selection penciled in for Monday, May 18. The settlement took that off the calendar.
• On Thursday, May 7, Lively filed a notice of settlement. In that filing, she asked for her attorneys' fees and costs, plus compensatory and punitive damages. Translation: the paperwork still has moving parts even though the trial is off.

Where Baldoni’s head is at (according to his best friend)

Adam Mondschein, 50, who has been close with Baldoni for years, told Us Weekly on Thursday, May 7, that his friend is mostly feeling relief — and also a little fragile. He said Baldoni was literally getting over a cold this week, and the bigger toll has been emotional, especially on the family. In his words, it has been overwhelming.

Mondschein also pushed back on any idea that Baldoni was worried about a trial. He says Baldoni was ready to see it through if it came to that — not a quitter — but the process was draining: holding firm while watching it weigh on your kids and your spouse takes a lot out of you. As for the mood now, he called it a win, but said they are waiting to really celebrate until everything is fully, finally over. Fair.

The official line from both sides

"The end product – the movie It Ends With Us – is a source of pride to all of us who worked 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. We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online."

The industry nitty-gritty

This case was gearing up to be a spectacle — jury selection and all — and still ended in a settlement the week before things got real. Also worth flagging: earlier filings in the case referenced a conversation between Ryan Reynolds and Baldoni. No fresh details about that in the settlement materials, but it gives you a sense of how wide the blast radius was getting.

What this means for Justin Baldoni

Career-wise, Baldoni already had a solid run with Jane the Virgin, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Everwood before any of this started. Could he jump back into a new role soon? Mondschein thinks so, but not immediately. His take is that Baldoni needs a minute to heal before he can put himself out there again — to feel safe as an artist, basically.

Bottom line: the legal war is ending, but the paperwork still has to land where it needs to, and emotions do not turn off with a settlement. If you were hoping this would fall out of the conversation soon, that is very much the plan from their camp too.