Blake Lively is reflecting on the roller-coaster year she’s had so far.
While speaking on Late Night With Seth Meyers Thursday night, the actress, who stars in the new film Another Simple Favor, touched on the lighter moments that she’s experienced, including working on the highly anticipated film and moments with her family.
She also briefly alluded to her ongoing legal battle with her former It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.
“Without going too into it, this year has been full of the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life,” she began.
She continued, “I see so many women around afraid to speak, especially right now afraid to share their experiences.”
“And fear is by design,” she added. “It’s what keeps us silent. But I also acknowledge that many people don’t have the opportunity to speak. So I do feel fortunate that I’ve been able to. And it’s the women who have had the ability to use their voice that’s kept me strong and helped me in my belief and my fight for the world to be safer for women and girls.”
Lively’s remarks were met with applause before Meyers turned the conversation to her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and his business partner Rob McElhenney, whose professional football club Wrexham A.F.C. recently notched a win over Charlton Athletic F.C., earning Wrexham a promotion to the Sky Bet Championship league.
“It’s unbelievable,” Lively said.
Asked whether she enjoyed attending the team’s games, she responded, “Oh my gosh, I love it so much. The community is, like, the most ferocious, protective, loving, often-drunk family you’ve ever had in your life. … My husband compares it — he’s like, ‘It’s like church, being here,’ and I see what he means.”
Lively’s public legal battle with Baldoni first began in December 2024, when the actress filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film. Baldoni has denied the allegations.
Later that month, the two filed dueling lawsuits against each other, with Lively alleging in her lawsuit that Baldoni and key stakeholders of the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company and his crisis PR company, The Agency Group PR, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni sued Lively, Reynolds, the couple’s publicist, Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s public relations company, Vision PR, for extortion and defamation, among other things.
In April, Lively honored female survivors of domestic violence and assault in a speech at the TIME100 Gala. She also specifically honored her mother, Willie Elain McAlpin, who she said is “a survivor of the worst crimes someone can commit against a woman.”
“I am here, my mom is here, because that woman not only survived, but she told others how,” Lively said in her speech.
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