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Chelsea Handler says both Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are both to blame for the endless headlines surrounding their legal tug-of-war.
“The reason it’s such a frenzy is that they keep releasing more and more stuff,” Handler exclusively tells Page Six of the “It Ends With Us” co-stars continuously trading barbs to the press.
She adds that she finds it all “interesting” and just wants to tell both of them, “Stop it! You’re not helping yourself.”
Lively and Baldoni starred in the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us.” BACKGRID The pair are currently embroiled in a vicious legal battle. Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett CollectionThe “I’ll Have What She’s Having” author, 49, criticized Baldoni for sharing private texts between himself and Lively and compared the legal maneuvering to children squabbling.
“It’s like you have to break up a fight in a schoolyard playground,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Don’t they know to stop?’ Isn’t someone saying, ‘Stop it!’?'”
Earlier this month, Handler thanked the warring duo while hosting the 2025 Critics Choice Awards for providing a “distraction” from President Trump’s second term in office and joked that there will probably not be a “This Ends With Us” sequel.
Lively accused the actor of sexual harassment on set. Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP Baldoni denies the charges and has filed a lawsuit against Lively. Erik Pendzich/ShutterstockWant more celebrity and pop culture news?
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“Waking up every day, not knowing what news we are going to hear that will disappoint or horrify us. So, it’s important, in times like these, to have a distraction. And that’s why I want to personally extend my gratitude to Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively,” Handler joked.
“Thank you for providing us with that distraction. I’m grateful. I think we’re all grateful, and I think we’re good. I think everybody in this room – no matter whose side you’re on – we can all agree to accept that there’s probably not going to be a sequel.”
Rumors of discord between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41, began last summer when the pair did not do joint publicity for their movie.
Handler compared the situation to “a fight in a schoolyard playground.” Getty Images for Critics Choice Association The comedian believes that someone should step in and tell them both to “stop.” Phillip CheungIn December 2024, the “Gossip Girl” alum filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and accused him of attempting to “destroy” her reputation.
A little over a week later, She officially filed a lawsuit in New York federal court against her former costar over lost wages and emotional distress.
Baldoni denied the charges and hit back filing a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times, who originally ran the article about Lively’s complained. He filed a separate $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane, accusing them of defamation and extortion.
Handler poked fun at the co-stars at the Critics Choice Awards. ©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection She thanked them for providing a “distraction” during President Trump’s tenure. Christopher Peterson / SplashNews.comThe actor then released private texts between himself including one where Lively allegedly wrote, “if you knew me (in person) longer you’d have a sense of how flirty and yummy the ball busting will play. It’s my love language. Spicy and playfully bold, never with teeth…..”
Most recently, Lively criticized a recent Hollywood Reporter cover about the feud calling it “outrageously insulting as it plays into every sexist trope about women who dare file a workplace complaint.”
Their cases have been consolidated with a potential trial start date of March 9, 2026. All parties involved have nixed the court’s mediation efforts and said that settlement talks would be “premature.”
