Blake Lively's lawyer confirms actress is going to testify in Justin Baldoni trial while Ryan Reynolds' testimony remains uncertain

Mike Gottlieb, Blake Lively's attorney, recently mentioned that the actress will take the stand to testify during the upcoming trial against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Bladoni. For the unversed, the actress accused Baldoni of s*xual harassment during the movie's filming in December 2024.

As reported by CNN, the actress also accused Baldoni of running a smear campaign against her during the movie's press run. Following this, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against his co-star, listing her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as a co-defendant.

In his countersuit, Justin Baldoni accused the A-list couple of defamation and civil extortion, alleging that they used their influence to "hijack" the film, which he directed and produced via his production company, Wayfarer Studios. According to an exclusive interview with People Magazine, released on May 8, 2025, attorney Gottlieb confirmed that Blake Lively will testify in the upcoming trial, scheduled for next year.

"The ultimate moment for a plaintiff's story to be told is at trial. We expect that to be the case here [with Lively]. So we would, of course, expect her to be a witness at her trial. Of course she’s going to testify,” Gottlieb said.

He continued:

“In discovery, they'll have an opportunity to ask Ms. Lively questions. Likewise, we will have the opportunity to take the depositions of the defendants."

The attorney also added that the court can expect the testimonies of "individuals that were witnesses to or experienced misconduct" relevant to Blake Lively's allegations against Baldoni.

However, it is unclear whether Ryan Reynolds will also take the stand, considering the actor filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni's lawsuit in March 2025. During the interview, the attorney accused Baldoni's legal team of being "frivolous" by including Reynolds as the co-defendant in the lawsuit, claiming that the Deadpool star “may or may not be a fact witness” if he was dismissed from the lawsuit.

Blake Lively's lawyer claims online discourse has strayed from the "core part of the case"

In his latest interview, Mike Gottlieb alleged that the case, which has attracted a lot of public attention since the beginning, has strayed from its core. The attorney claimed the core was the alleged "retaliation campaign" that Blake Lively faced after she "raised concerns about s*xual harassment" while filming It Ends With Us.

The lawyer also claimed that "a lot of distractions" were brought forth to "deflect attention from the retaliation campaign" reportedly launched against Lively, adding:

“We think there have been a lot of distractions put up to deflect attention from the retaliation campaign that was launched against her. And we expect and hope that in discovery we'll have an opportunity to really focus on what we believe to be the core part of the case, which is that this retaliation campaign was launched against Ms. Lively for her having raised concerns about s*xual harassment.”

When asked about the potential involvement of other celebrities like Hugh Jackman and Taylor Swift in the upcoming trial, Gottlieb claimed that neither celebrity had "any relevance" to the case. He also implied that Baldoni's team was sending subpoenas to A-list celebrities to generate headlines.

“It’s completely unclear what claims or defenses in the case any of these celebrities… have any relevance to at all. This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of s*xual harassment on the set. It’s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. It’s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in Deadpool movies,” he said.

For context, Baldoni's legal team indicated that they were looking to subpoena both Jackman and Swift due to their close friendship with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. According to People magazine, Jackman's potential involvement stems from the recent Deadpool & Wolverine movie, after Baldoni claimed in his lawsuit that the character Nicepool was created to mock him.

Meanwhile, Swift's name reportedly came up in the lawsuit after Baldoni stated that he allegedly felt pressured to accept the rewrites that Blake Lively made to the It Ends With Us script after a meeting with the actress, her husband Reynolds, and Swift.

According to court documents obtained by People magazine, Justin Baldoni described the alleged encounter as "facing Lively’s 'dragons'." He claimed that these "two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world" were "not afraid to make things very difficult for him."

The word "dragons" was seemingly a reference to an alleged text message that Blake Lively sent Baldoni, where she likened herself to the Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and dubbed Reynolds and Swift as her "dragons."

Baldoni's lawyer alleged that Blake Lively used her "dragons" to "manipulate Justin at every turn"

On May 8, 2025, Bryan Freedman, Justin Baldoni's lawyer, also gave a statement to People Magazine that countered Mike Gottlieb's, denying the claims that his team was distracting the public from the truth. He also alleged that the actress was the person who introduced her "high-profile friends into the situation." He added:

“Although obviously uncomfortable for the Lively parties, the truth is not a distraction. The truth has been clearly shown through unedited receipts, documents and real life footage. More to come. Blake was the one who brought her high-profile friends into this situation without concern for their own personal or public backlash. As the truth shows, she used her Dragons to manipulate Justin at every turn.”

Furthermore, Freedman claimed that Ryan Reynolds played a direct hand in turning the situation against his client, questioning whether Disney (which owns Deadpool & Wolverine) was complicit in seemingly helping the actor use "shareholder revenues to further a personal grudge."

The Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively trial is scheduled for March 2026.

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