Ryan Reynolds is seeking to end Justin Baldoni’s legal drama with him and his wife, Blake Lively.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Tuesday, March 18, Reynolds, 48, filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s lawsuit. In the filing, Reynolds’ legal team argued that Baldoni’s case “does not identify a single allegedly defamatory statement” made by Reynolds.
“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here is the problem, that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” read a statement from Reynolds’ attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson to Us. “The complaint doesn’t allege that, and just the opposite, the allegations in the complaint suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”
The statement continued: “Mr. Reynolds’ wife has accused Mr. Baldoni — privately and in multiple complaints — of sexual harassment and retaliation, and as pointed out by Mr. Reynolds’ motion, Mr. Baldoni has also openly spoken about his past of mistreating women and pushing the boundaries of consent. Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year.”
Additionally, Reynolds’ spokesperson released a statement to Us: “The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be, a man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life. We look forward to this lawsuit being dismissed, and to collecting on Steve Sarowitz’s $100 million pledge by recovering Mr. Reynolds’ costs and attorneys’ fees incurred to toss this frivolous case.”
Us has reached out to Baldoni for comment.
Baldoni’s legal drama with Lively and Reynolds began back in December 2024. Lively accused her It Ends With Us costar and director of sexual harassment in a legal complaint. The document also claimed that Baldoni attempted to launch a smear campaign against Lively.
Baldoni denied the allegations and subsequently filed a countersuit against Lively, Reynolds and the actress’ publicist the following month. The $400 million lawsuit accused the trio of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and more. Lively and Reynolds have denied Baldoni’s claims while Lively’s publicist has asked to be removed from the lawsuit.
Neither Baldoni nor Lively have been able to reach a settlement. Their trial is currently scheduled for May 2026.
