Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, claimed Blake Lively settled her lawsuit with her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director because she was “scared” to testify at trial.
Freedman made the surprising claim as Lively continues to seek attorneys’ fees and damages connected with Baldoni’s dismissed $400 million countersuit against her.
“Part of the reason Blake settled is because she was scared to take the witness stand at trial,” the attorney told TMZ on Thursday. “She did not want to face cross-examination by anyone because that would require her to tell the truth.”
He continued, “Blake lied about telling Sony to destroy the dailies. She lied that she never told [‘It Ends With Us’ author] Colleen Hoover to unfollow Justin Baldoni. In her deposition, Colleen said Blake asked her to unfollow him. And there were more lies.”
But Freedman’s comments didn’t end there, because the lawyer went on to slam the 38-year-old actress over the outcome of the pair’s ugly 18-month legal battle.
“Bottom line, Blake filed a claim for $300 million and she ended up with nothing,” he charged. “If this is a resounding victory, what does a defeat look like?”
He went on, “If she’s doing this for survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment and retaliation, as she says, then why don’t you take the stand at trial and prove it to the world? A trial would have exposed her lies and the entire smear she was talking about in her interviews that she did.”
In response, Lively’s team told TMZ that they “guess” Baldoni and Freedman are “no longer ‘ecstatic’ about the settlement.”
Page Six has reached out to Lively’s reps for further comment.
The feuding “It Ends With Us” co-stars agreed to settle their nasty legal battle on Monday, two weeks before the case was set to begin trial on May 18 and a month after a judge tossed out 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against Baldoni.
“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,” both sides said in a joint statement to Page Six after the surprise settlement.
Although Page Six learned that the pair spent a combined $60 million suing one another, and neither saw a dime in the settlement, Lively’s legal team called the agreement a “resounding victory.”
“By agreeing to this settlement, and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Ms. Lively,” the “A Simple Favor” star’s team told Page Six in a statement.
“From day one Blake Lively’s mission was clear: expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added. “That mission continues.”
