Washington: Justin Baldoni has spoken publicly for the first time since his legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively concluded earlier this year, sharing an emotional message alongside his wife, Emily Baldoni, in a nearly five-minute Instagram video.
The actor and filmmaker, who directed and starred in It Ends With Us, said he and his wife had deliberately chosen to remain silent throughout the legal proceedings despite having “a lot” they wanted to say.
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“We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years, and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say, because Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just didn’t feel like the right time,” Baldoni said.
His statement comes more than two months after he and Blake Lively reached a settlement, weeks before the case involving alleged sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us was scheduled to go to trial. The legal dispute ended with Baldoni being ordered by the court to pay Lively’s attorneys’ fees, with no additional damages awarded, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Reflecting on the past two years, Emily Baldoni said, “We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like, how could something like this even happen? Let alone disguised as a fight for women. So much to unpack. And the reality is that there’s been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family, which also makes it hard to speak.”
Justin Baldoni added, “There’s been so many painful things that have been spoken into existence over the last couple years, and that created so much noise, and we didn’t want to add to the noise. We just wanted to let the justice system run its course.”
Providing an update, Baldoni said, “We are healing,” while thanking supporters who stood by the couple. “There were so many of you who, when we didn’t have a voice, were our voice,” he said. Concluding the video, the couple said they have “so much more to say,” but their immediate priority is “continuing the healing and hanging out with our kiddos and enjoying life.”
