Blake Lively has been granted a protective order by the judge presiding over the sexual harassment case between herself and It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni. It will mean that the director’s legal team will be required to identify everyone who will attend her deposition, which is set to take place later this week on 17 July. They will need to give two days notice as to who will be attending. 

E! News has reported that these legal documents require Lively to  ‘make arrangements for opposing counsel to have a dedicated computer and the ability to print and copy documents in the space chosen by Lively’”

Before this motion was granted, Baldoni’s team suggested that the Gossip Girl actress was using her ‘celebrity status’ as well as trying to dictate and control the deposition, ‘at a location of her choosing.’

‘Lively is a plaintiff who has hurled serious allegations of misconduct against the Wayfarer Parties,’ a letter from Baldoni’s team reads. ‘Like all defendants, the Wayfarer Parties are entitled to depose Lively to develop evidence crucial to their defense. They are also entitled to choose the location of the deposition, which they did.’

His team also referred to Lively’s requests as examples of ‘foot stomping’ referring to her lawyer’s behaviour as a ‘tantrum,’ and that she has used her celebrity status to ‘seize control’ of It Ends With Us, which Baldoni and Lively both starred in.

‘It is ironic that Lively alleges that the Wayfarer Parties [Baldoni’s studio] are trying to “generate press interest” in her deposition given that she tirelessly ensured that The New York Times widely publicised her allegations and that her ‘representatives’ provided a self-serving quote to the media about the Motion,’

Baldoni’s team stated. ‘Although Lively’s foot-stomping and use of her celebrity status may have enabled her to seize control of the film, which is the crux of this dispute, her counsel’s tantrum has no place in this Court.’

Lively’s team have alleged that one of the reasons for requesting this protective order is that Baldoni’s team has ‘not denied that their intent is to manufacture a harassing publicity stunt by requiring Ms. Lively to parade through paparazzi, or by inviting unknown attendees to the deposition, including members of the media or social media influencers, or any other number of abusive tactics,’ adding that his team have also refused to address their concerns. 

‘Despite Ms. Lively’s repeated efforts to confer, defendants have refused to address these concerns and have responded only with their insistence that they alone control all logistics and security issues.‘Since virtually the inception of this litigation, Defendants have used even the prospect of Ms. Lively’s deposition to generate press interest,’ Lively’s filing reads.

This comes after statements were made by Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman about holding Lively’s deposition at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. 

‘Hold the deposition at MSG, sell tickets or stream it, and donate every dollar to organisations helping victims of domestic abuse,’ he told People in an interview.

In spite of these earlier statements, Baldoni’s team have alleged in a letter that Baldoni’s team opposes Lively’s motion for a protective order that: ‘Lively relies solely on inapplicable authority and unsupported accusations about opposing counsel and their motives. Lively does not present a single fact to support her allegations of a ‘plot’ to use the deposition as a “publicity stunt.”’

Lively’s team have told People that the actress ‘is looking forward to her deposition… and it should follow the same rules as every other witness in this case.’

‘Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has tried to make this matter a public spectacle at every turn, even proposing to sell tickets to a televised deposition at Madison Square Garden,’ her team’s statement continued. ‘This is a serious matter of sexual harassment and retaliation and it deserves to be treated as such.’

In her initial complaint against Baldoni, Lively alleged that Baldoni and his Wayfarer associates ‘embarked on a sophisticated press and digital plan in retaliation’ against her voicing concerns about alleged misconduct on set. Lively stated that she and other cast and crew members ‘experienced invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behaviour” by Baldoni and Wayfarer’s CEO Jamey Heath. Baldoni and Heath deny all allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct.

She added that the alleged campaign caused her ‘substantial harm’ both personally and professionally.

The date for Lively and Baldoni’s trial is set for March 2026 and will be held in New York City. Lawyers for both actors have indicated that both plan to testify during the proceedings.

The accusations listed in Lively’s complaint include sexual harassment; retaliation; failure to investigate, prevent and/or remedy harassment; aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation; breach of contract; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligence; false light invasion of privacy and interference with prospective economic advantage.

‘I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct,’ Lively told the New York Times after she filed her complaint back in December, ‘and helps protect others who may be targeted.’