How an Alleged Smear Campaign Cost Blake Lively $161 Million — Report
Blake Lively says she lost $161 million to an alleged smear campaign tied to It Ends With Us, thrusting the film’s rollout back into the spotlight.
Blake Lively is not shrugging off the drama around It Ends With Us. She says a coordinated smear campaign around the film cost her a staggering $161 million, and she just put a dollar-by-dollar breakdown in a court filing that went public this week.
The $161 million claim, in plain English
In a damages disclosure submitted to the defense in July and unsealed on November 6, Lively lays out what she believes she lost because of the alleged campaign targeting her around the movie’s release. The figures are eye-watering and, yes, unusually specific:
- $56.2 million in past and future income from acting, producing, public speaking, and endorsements
- $49 million tied to her haircare brand, identified in the filing as 'Blake Brown'
- $22 million across her beverage lines, Betty Buzz and Betty Booze
- $34 million in reputational damage, pegged to 65 million negative social media impressions
Her legal team says those numbers are preliminary and will be tested by experts at trial next March. They also plan to seek punitive damages at three times the stated amount, which would push the ask into truly nosebleed territory.
"These are wish list numbers," her attorney Gregory Doll said, noting that figures like this often show up when both sides are nudging toward settlement talks.
How we got here
Lively filed her suit on December 31, 2024. In it, she accuses her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, studio head Steve Sarowitz, and their publicists of orchestrating retaliation after she reported sexual harassment on set. The alleged retaliation, she says, bled into the movie’s release and torpedoed her reputation and business ventures.
Where the court fight stands
Baldoni fired back with a $400 million countersuit over alleged defamation, but that case was tossed in June. The judge ruled he could not sue over claims made in a legal filing. In October, Judge Lewis Liman entered a final judgment after Baldoni’s team chose not to amend the complaint.
Who could be called to testify
Lively’s disclosure also name-drops a handful of boldface names as potential witnesses: Taylor Swift, Emily Blunt, Scooter Braun, Hugh Jackman, and Gigi Hadid. Realistically, most of them are unlikely to take the stand, but the list is a reminder of how wide the blast radius could be if this goes the distance.
Bottom line: the money claims are massive, the timeline is messy, and the trial next March is shaping up to be noisy if it doesn’t settle first. The filing may still change, but for now, that’s the case Lively is putting on the board.