If you have seen the headlines about Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and frozen yogurt and wondered what is actually happening beneath the celebrity sightings, here is the full picture.
It all started with a movie. Lively starred in and co-produced It Ends With Us, a 2024 romantic drama directed by Justin Baldoni. By the end of the press tour, a working relationship had turned into one of Hollywood’s messiest public legal fights.
Lively sued Baldoni for $400 million, alleging sexual harassment on set and a planned defamation campaign meant to ruin her reputation after she spoke up. She claimed Baldoni and his publicist hired a crisis PR firm to leak negative stories, shift public opinion, and turn viewers against her while the film was still in theaters
Baldoni denied it all and hit back with his own countersuit, accusing Lively and Reynolds of attempting to take control of the film’s narrative and damage his career. He alleged that texts and messages were cherry-picked and leaked to the press to build a fake case against him
The legal proceedings moved quickly and expensively. By April 2026, a judge threw out most of Lively’s claims, saying the evidence didn’t meet the legal bar. The case got much smaller, but it wasn’t over.
What’s left now is what Lively’s lawyers call a “mini trial”, a focused hearing to decide damages for reputational damage and legal costs. Her team says they need expert testimony to put a number on her losses. Baldoni’s side says it’s just a backdoor way to rehash claims that were already dismissed.
The money involved is wild. Reports say both sides have spent around $60 million on lawyers so far. Lively wants that back, plus triple and punitive damages for the claims that survived dismissal.
Through it all, both have kept up their public lives. Lively showed up at the Met Gala, a Fendi event, and the Gucci High Jewelry show in New York. On Wednesday she and Reynolds were snapped sharing frozen yogurt in a car, their first public appearance since Lively’s team filed for the mini trial.
The case isn’t finished. What started as a fight over what happened on a film set has blown up into a bigger, uglier battle over reputation, money, and who controls the narrative. Neither side has an answer yet.
