Joshua Goldman
Joshua Goldman
min read · July 19, 2025 · Entertainment

Judge Slams Blake Lively: 'Celebrity Is Fleeting' in Legal Drama

During an emergency hearing this week, an exasperated-sounding Judge Lewis Liman warned the actress that 'celebrity is fleeting.'

SCANDAL ROCKS HOLLYWOOD: BLAKE LIVELY'S LEGAL BATTLE WITH JUSTIN BALDONI TAKES A TURN FOR THE WORSE

The drama is getting juicier by the day in the high-profile legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. In a shocking twist, Judge Lewis Liman has warned the Gossip Girl actress that her celebrity status won't last forever - and it's irrelevant to the court.

As the two former collaborators on the film It Ends With Us continue their messy court battle over alleged sexual harassment and smear campaigns, Judge Liman is getting fed up with the drama. During an emergency hearing this week, he laid down the law: "Celebrity is fleeting," he warned Lively, 37. "It's also not relevant to the court."

Baldoni's attorney complained that Lively, 37, was being given 'special treatment simply because she's a celebrity.'

The tension was palpable as Baldoni's attorney Kevin Fritz complained that Lively was receiving special treatment simply because she's a celebrity. But Judge Liman wasn't having it. "I'm well aware that your client is a person of high profile," he said. "So is the plaintiff [Lively]. Their names were unknown to me before I came into this case."

The judge then delivered a stern warning: "As far as I'm concerned, whether they have celebrity at the moment or not is irrelevant. Celebrity can be fleeting. It's also not relevant to the court." He ordered Lively to hand over three years of her business records to Baldoni's team - but only if she can prove that her income and expenses have changed since the alleged smear campaign.

This latest development in the saga comes as Lively is fighting to keep her deposition private. She has allegedly sought to tightly control the scope of her pending deposition, which was recently postponed to July 31. And in a major setback for the actress, one of her claims against social media PR expert Jed Wallace was dismissed by a federal judge.

'Celebrity, as you know, and everybody knows, can be fleeting. It's also not relevant to the court,' said Judge Liman.

The drama between Lively and Baldoni has been brewing for months. In December, Lively filed a legal complaint accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and manufacturing a smear campaign aimed at "destroying" her reputation. Baldoni responded with a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist Leslie Sloane - alleging defamation and extortion.

The messy legal battle has reportedly decimated Lively's friendship with her close pal Taylor Swift. Baldoni's team even subpoenaed Lively for text messages, emails, and any other messages between the friends - revealing an embarrassing exchange in which Lively referred to herself as Khaleesi from Game of Thrones and Swift as one of her "dragons."

As the drama unfolds, sources have denied Swift's involvement in the film It Ends With Us. But one thing is clear: this celebrity feud has gotten out of hand.

Lively has has allegedly sought to tightly control the scope of the deposition amid her ongoing legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni, 41.

Stay tuned for more updates on this juicy legal battle - only at TheScholarlyNote.com!

The Gossip Girl actress previously claimed that Baldoni's attacks in the press and on social media caused sales of her haircare line 'Blake Brown' to decrease by between 56 percent and 78 percent.