Blake Lively has alluded to her ongoing legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni, at the TIME100 gala in New York City.
The actress, who attended the event after being named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people, delivered a speech saying it was “surreal and deeply significant” to be there.
“In a time where the most valuable currency seems to be anger, it feels like an act of defiance to commune and celebrate all the good that is alive in the world,” said the 37-year-old.
The Gossip Girl star also stated that being referred to as “influential” was a “significant responsibility”, and added: “How we use that matters. Who and what we stand up for, and what we stay silent about, what we monetise versus what we actually live, matters.”
“I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum… the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”
Blake stated that she is “influenced most” by her mother, Willie Elaine McAlpin, who she revealed was the “survivor of the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.”
“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born.”
Blake also revealed that her mom credited a woman whom she heard speaking about a “similar circumstance” on the radio for saving her life.
“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped. And because of hearing that woman speak about her experience instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today. She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know.”
The A Simple Favour star described womanhood as a “pact that privately we must show others how to survive, literally or spiritually.
“We don’t let our daughters know, but one day we break their hearts by letting them in on the secret that we kept from them as they pranced around in princess dresses that they are not and will likely never be safe at work, at home, in a parking lot in a medical office, online – in any space they inhabit physically, emotionally, professionally.”
Blake praised the “superpower of female triumph” as being a “basic human right”, and added: “Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain.”
Four months after the release of It Ends With Us, Blake filed a legal complaint accusing her co-star Justin of sexual harassment and retaliation.
Justin denied all claims against him and went on to file a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times for their reporting of Blake’s claims against him.
He then went on to file a $400 million lawsuit against the Gossip Girl star and her husband for alleged defamation and extortion.
Blake’s lawyers then surfaced Justin’s text messages to be used as evidence about his alleged smear campaign against her.
A trial date has been scheduled for next year – March 9, 2026.
