For more than a year, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were at the center of one of Hollywood’s messiest and most closely watched legal battles.
There were allegations.
Countersuits.
Hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
Court filings dissected across the internet.
Ryan Reynolds’ name was dragged into the fight.
Private communications became headlines.
And all of it traced back to a movie whose title now feels almost painfully ironic:
It Ends With Us.
Then, in May 2026, something happened that seemed to finally put an end to the spectacle.
Blake and Baldoni settled the bulk of their legal dispute shortly before a trial was expected to begin.
After everything that had happened, it looked like both sides might finally be able to walk away.
Except one very expensive issue remained unresolved.
And now, another legal demand means Blake may not be finished answering questions after all.
Because someone connected to this sprawling battle is seeking to depose her again.
Yes — another deposition
This latest twist isn’t exactly a reopening of Blake and Baldoni’s settled lawsuit.
It’s more complicated than that.
The new dispute involves Jed Wallace, a crisis-management specialist whom Lively had accused of participating in efforts to damage her reputation. Wallace denied wrongdoing and previously sued Lively in Texas.
That lawsuit was dismissed because the Texas court concluded it lacked personal jurisdiction over Lively.
But another issue survived the dismissal:
money.
Lively sought roughly $1 million in attorneys’ fees and costs connected with defending herself against Wallace’s Texas case.
And now Wallace wants an opportunity to question her under oath before that money is awarded.
According to recent reports, his attorneys have requested another deposition of Lively focused specifically on the fee dispute.
Suddenly, the legal story everyone thought was winding down has another chapter.
And this one comes after Blake already sat through a highly publicized deposition last year.
The first deposition became a story of its own
Blake was previously deposed on July 31, 2025, in connection with her federal dispute involving Baldoni.
Even that process became controversial.
The nearly 300-page transcript later became the subject of a fight over whether it should remain public, eventually being sealed by the court.
Now imagine being told that, after the headline-making lawsuit has largely been settled, somebody wants you back in the deposition chair.
That’s the new disagreement.
And Blake’s attorneys are pushing back.
According to reporting on the new request, her team disputes the need for Wallace to depose her again in connection with the legal-fee claim.
So while the enormous central battle may have settled, the fight over who pays for what clearly hasn’t disappeared.
And the numbers involved are enormous.
Blake is seeking millions — and not only from Wallace
The Wallace dispute isn’t the only financial question still hanging over the aftermath of It Ends With Us.
Blake has separately requested more than $8 million in attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses from Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios.
Her June filing sought approximately $7.5 million in attorneys’ fees plus roughly $539,000 in other costs associated with defending against Baldoni’s defamation claim.
That means that even after the central claims were settled, millions of dollars remained on the table.
And Baldoni’s side certainly hasn’t quietly accepted Blake’s bill.
His attorneys asked the judge to deny or substantially reduce the amount, calling the request excessive and challenging the number of hours billed by Lively’s legal team.
So this isn’t simply:
“The lawsuit ended.”
It’s more like:
“The biggest part ended — and now everyone is fighting over the bill.”
How did a movie promotion become THIS?
That’s the question casual observers may still be asking.
Because when It Ends With Us arrived in theaters in August 2024, nobody could have predicted just how far the behind-the-scenes drama would go.
Blake played Lily Bloom.
Justin Baldoni played Ryle Kincaid and also directed the movie, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel.
But during the film’s promotional campaign, viewers began noticing something strange.
Blake and Baldoni weren’t appearing together in the way audiences might expect from the two leading stars of a major movie.
Social media began investigating.
Why weren’t they doing interviews together?
Why did the cast appear closer to Blake?
Had something happened behind the scenes?
For weeks, theories spread online.
Then the situation exploded far beyond celebrity gossip.
Blake made serious allegations
In late 2024, Lively accused Baldoni and others associated with the production of sexual harassment and retaliation, including an alleged effort to damage her reputation after she raised concerns about conduct during production.
Baldoni denied the allegations and disputed her account.
Then he fought back legally.
In January 2025, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit involving Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and others, alleging claims including defamation and civil extortion.
Suddenly, what had begun as internet speculation surrounding an awkward movie press tour had turned into a Hollywood legal war.
Private messages and behind-the-scenes communications became part of the public conversation.
Lawyers issued competing statements.
Fans picked sides.
Every new court filing generated another round of headlines.
And the numbers were staggering.
$400 million.
That’s not ordinary celebrity drama.
Then came a major courtroom blow
In June 2025, Baldoni’s massive countersuit was dismissed.
The litigation continued, however, with Blake’s own case still moving toward trial.
For months, it appeared that the two stars might eventually face an extraordinarily public courtroom showdown.
Then came May 2026.
Just before the expected trial, the two sides reached a settlement resolving the bulk of the litigation.
The agreement barred future claims connected to the settled dispute and included a joint public statement. However, crucially, it preserved Blake’s ability to pursue certain attorneys’ fees and damages through the court.
That little detail is why the story didn’t completely disappear.
Then Blake scored another legal victory
In June, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled that Lively could recover legal fees and costs associated with defending against Baldoni’s dismissed defamation claim.
The ruling relied on a California law designed to protect people who report sexual misconduct from certain retaliatory defamation actions.
However, Blake didn’t get everything she sought.
The judge rejected her attempt to obtain additional punitive and treble damages through that particular procedural route.
Both sides naturally emphasized different pieces of the result.
Blake’s team highlighted the award of attorneys’ fees.
Baldoni’s side emphasized the denial of additional damages.
And then came the question everyone knew would produce another fight:
Exactly how much should he have to pay?
Blake’s answer was more than $8 million.
Baldoni’s side saw that number and fought back
Blake’s attorneys submitted their calculations at the end of June.
The total:
$8,035,040.88.
That consisted of approximately $7.5 million in legal fees and $539,514 in costs.
Baldoni and Wayfarer objected.
Their attorneys argued the requested amount should be denied or significantly reduced and characterized the fee request as extraordinary.
They also challenged the thousands of hours of legal work for which Lively sought compensation.
In other words, the original war may have settled.
But now there’s a war about how much the war itself cost.
And that’s where the current situation becomes particularly fascinating.
Because Blake isn’t fighting only one legal-fee battle.
Enter Jed Wallace
Wallace’s name had already appeared in the broader controversy.
He previously brought a defamation case against Blake in Texas.
That case didn’t ultimately proceed against her because the court concluded it lacked jurisdiction.
But Blake then sought reimbursement for the legal expenses she says she incurred defending herself.
Reports place that request at roughly $1 million.
Wallace is now challenging aspects of that request.
And his attorneys want to question Blake under oath.
Again.
The proposed deposition would reportedly be limited to issues surrounding the Texas fee claim rather than reopening the entire underlying controversy.
That distinction matters.
This isn’t necessarily It Ends With Us: The Lawsuit Part Two.
But from Blake’s perspective, it means the legal fallout continues to demand attention even after the central dispute was supposed to be resolved.
Why would they want to question Blake?
At the heart of the disagreement is whether Blake should receive the legal fees she’s seeking and what evidence supports the amount.
A deposition allows lawyers to question someone under oath before trial or another court proceeding.
Wallace’s side argues that questioning Blake is relevant to evaluating her fee request.
Her attorneys disagree with the necessity of putting her through another deposition.
And that’s where things currently stand.
There isn’t a dramatic courtroom verdict declaring that Blake must sit down tomorrow.
There isn’t a newly revived $400 million lawsuit.
Instead, there is something much more technical — but potentially very consequential:
a dispute over whether she can be questioned again before the fee issue is resolved.
For Blake, however, even a technical dispute means another headline.
Another legal filing.
Another round of public scrutiny.
And Ryan Reynolds has been caught in the storm too
One reason this story became so enormous is that it never remained confined to Blake and Baldoni.
Ryan Reynolds was named in Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit alongside his wife.
His fame inevitably intensified the attention surrounding the case.
Suddenly, three major Hollywood names were attached to the same legal battle.
Blake Lively.
Justin Baldoni.
Ryan Reynolds.
And behind them were studios, publicists, attorneys and communications professionals.
The situation became bigger than the film that started it.
Even people who never watched It Ends With Us knew about the feud.
That’s a remarkable transformation.
A movie based on a bestselling romance novel became the center of one of Hollywood’s most dramatic legal spectacles.
The title has become impossible to ignore
There is a strange irony that follows this story everywhere.
It Ends With Us.
Every time it appears that the dispute has finally ended, something else emerges.
First, the movie ended.
Then came the allegations.
Then the lawsuits.
Then the countersuit.
Then the dismissal.
Then preparations for trial.
Then the settlement.
Then the attorneys’ fees.
Then the fight over those fees.
And now?
Another requested deposition.
It’s almost too perfectly named.
But one important distinction shouldn’t get lost
The latest development doesn’t mean Blake and Baldoni have suddenly thrown out their settlement and returned to their original legal battle.
They haven’t.
The bulk of their litigation was settled in May.
The current disputes involve unresolved financial consequences and, separately, Wallace’s effort to question Lively regarding her Texas fee request.
Those details may sound less dramatic than the internet’s favorite version of events.
But they actually make the story more interesting.
Because legal battles often don’t end when the headline says SETTLED.
They leave behind enormous bills.
And somebody has to pay them.
Blake’s legal bill tells its own story
More than $8 million.
Think about that number.
That’s what Blake says it cost her to fight the relevant portion of Baldoni and Wayfarer’s case.
Her attorneys have accused the opposing side of litigation tactics that forced them to spend extraordinary resources defending her.
Baldoni’s side sees things very differently and argues that the amount sought is unreasonable.
A judge will ultimately have to sort through those competing arguments.
And separately, the Wallace dispute has its own questions about fees.
That’s why the story that appeared to be finished isn’t quite finished.
Not because the original feud necessarily restarted.
But because its financial aftermath is still very much alive.
So what happens now?
For Blake, the next chapter may depend on what the courts decide about these remaining fee disputes — including whether another deposition is appropriate in the Wallace matter.
For Baldoni and Wayfarer, the fight continues over how much of Blake’s multimillion-dollar fee request they should actually be required to pay.
And for everyone watching?
It’s another reminder that the most explosive Hollywood battles rarely end neatly.
There may never be another red-carpet photograph of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni promoting a movie together.
There may never be a dramatic reunion between the former co-stars.
And their central litigation may indeed be behind them.
But the legal machinery they set in motion is still moving.
Invoices remain disputed.
Lawyers are still filing documents.
Millions of dollars remain at stake.
And now someone wants Blake Lively answering questions under oath again.
So perhaps the biggest irony of all is this:
After almost two years of headlines surrounding a movie called It Ends With Us, Blake Lively may have discovered that sometimes…
the ending has an epilogue.
For more celebrity updates, see why Britney Spears just broke her silence with a heartbreaking confession about her sons, or check out how Justin & Hailey Bieber finally responded to all those rumors and why everyone is asking the same question about Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez.
