Ryan Reynolds is speaking out about the ongoing legal dispute involving actor and director Justin Baldoni, and how the controversy is affecting both his personal life and his growing business empire.
“I can read something that says, ‘He should be drawn and quartered.’ I could read something that says I should win a Nobel Prize. Both are meaningless,” Reynolds said. “None of us are comprised of our best moments. None of us are defined by our worst moments. We are something in the middle.”
The interview marks one of Reynolds’ first public comments on what has been a turbulent year for both him and his wife, Blake Lively. In December 2024, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni, her co-star and director on It Ends with Us, alleging misconduct on set.
When asked about how the couple is handling the scrutiny, Reynolds emphasized his commitment to transparency and integrity: “Accessibility and accountability are a big part of how I do things… The people that I work with know me, so there’s never a question of anything like that.
If you operate with some degree of core values and integrity, they’re going to help you up. If you’re an a–hole, they’re not. And that’s pretty simple.”
In response to Lively’s complaint, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit in January 2025, accusing Lively, Reynolds, and their publicists of extortion, defamation, and additional claims.
The legal tensions escalated further when Baldoni also sued The New York Times over its reporting on the initial allegations. However, both lawsuits were dismissed by a federal judge on June 9, after months of legal proceedings.
Despite the high-profile legal issues, Reynolds continues to manage a growing portfolio of business ventures beyond the entertainment world. In addition to running his production company, Maximum Effort, he maintains investments in Mint Mobile, cybersecurity firm 1Password, and the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC.
While Reynolds and Lively declined to go into detail about the legal battle during the TIME interview, the article did note that Lively made a brief appearance during the conversation to offer snacks, underscoring the couple’s efforts to maintain normalcy amid public scrutiny.
Reflecting on how he maintains emotional and professional balance, Reynolds pointed to the conflict-resolution training he participated in during his twenties.
“Conflict resolution changed my life in a way that I can’t quantify,” he said. “You don’t have to agree with the person. You can empathize, you can validate. You can do all those things and get closer to them without having to just blindly agree or win or lose.”
Though the court allowed Baldoni to amend his claims against Lively—specifically regarding breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract – his attorney announced this week that they will not move forward with any amendments. Instead, Baldoni’s legal team is reportedly “pursuing additional legal options.”
In another legal development, the judge recently denied Lively’s request for a protective order that would have blocked Baldoni from accessing her communications with close friend Taylor Swift regarding It Ends with Us. The broader case, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al., is currently scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.