Blake Lively just notched a major W in her legal feud with It Ends with Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni. And by “major W,” we mean she convinced a judge to slap a giant “TOP SECRET” stamp on certain juicy details that shall remain hidden from the prying eyes of the public.
ICYMI, Blake and Justin have been locked in a courtroom showdown over some alleged on-set drama, and things have been messier than a toddler with a spaghetti bowl.
On Thursday (March 13), Judge Lewis Liman granted Blake’s request to keep certain sensitive info under lock and key—meaning only the lawyers get to peek at it. Regular humans (and nosy fans) will have to settle for wild speculation instead.
Why all the secrecy? Well, according to Blake’s team, this case is crawling with celebrities, publicists, and enough Hollywood power players to cast an entire Marvel movie. Keeping things hush-hush is apparently necessary to prevent a circus-level spectacle.
Judge Liman agreed, writing (via Variety), “These cases involve both business competitors and allegations of sexual harm. Discovery will necessarily include confidential and sensitive business and personal information. The risk of disclosure is great.” Translation: This is serious, and we don’t need TMZ running a play-by-play.
Meanwhile, Justin’s legal team was mostly cool with keeping things private, but they did request the right to share information with their client. You know, so he’s not left in the dark about his own lawsuit. Fair.
That said, this wasn’t a total knockout victory for Blake. The judge ruled that only the really spicy stuff—aka anything “highly likely” to cause “significant” harm—would be locked away. So, some details might still see the light of day.
A spokesperson for Blake dropped a statement, saying, “Today, the Court rejected the Wayfarer Parties’ objections and entered the protections needed to ensure the free flow of discovery material without any risk of witness intimidation or harm to any individual’s security.” In other words: We won this round, and now we’re coming for even more receipts.
Buckle up, this legal drama is just getting started. 🍿
