NEWSChelsea Handler Criticizes Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's Legal Battle: 'It's Like You Have to Break Up a Fight in a Schoolyard Playground'
Chelsea Handler commented on Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' legal battle.
Chelsea Handler isn’t holding back when it comes to the messy legal feud between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
The comedian weighed in on the It Ends With Us drama, comparing the whole situation to kids bickering — especially after Baldoni publicly released his private texts with Lively on a website.
“It’s like you have to break up a fight in a schoolyard playground,” Handler told a news outlet. “It’s like, ‘Don’t they know to stop?’ Isn’t someone saying, ‘Stop it!?''”
Chelsea Handler urged Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni to 'stop' their 'schoolyard playground' fight.
Handler pointed out why the ongoing battle just keeps escalating, noting, “The reason it’s such a frenzy is that they keep releasing more and more stuff.”
While she admitted the drama is “interesting,” the This Means War actress made it clear she thinks both stars need to call it quits.
“Stop it! You’re not helping yourself,” she urged the costars.
Justin Baldoni said he had an 'intense year' because of the ongoing legal feud.
Earlier this month, Handler even poked fun at the Hollywood feud while hosting the 2025 Critics Choice Awards. She thanked Lively and Baldoni for giving everyone a break from President Donald Trump’s second inauguration drama and joked that a This Ends With Us sequel is probably not happening.
“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 quipped.
“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,” she continued.
Justin Baldoni hit back, filing a $400 million suit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for defamation.
- Blake Lively's Publicist Accuses Justin Baldoni of 'Egregious Sexual Harassment of Multiple Employees' in New Motion
- Justin Baldoni Claims Blake Lively Held Taylor Swift Song 'Hostage' Until She Got Her Way in the Editing Room Amid Legal Battle
- Blake Lively's Lawyers Call Justin Baldoni's 'Desperate' $400 Million Lawsuit 'Another Chapter in the Abuser Playbook': 'It Will Fail'
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As OK! previously reported, the tension between Lively and Baldoni exploded after Lively accused the actor-director of sexual harassment and claimed his team launched a “smear campaign” against her. Baldoni fired back with a massive defamation lawsuit, calling her allegations “cherry-picked” and misleading.
In his lawsuit, Baldoni is suing Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane, her PR firm, and even her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for a whopping $400 million.
The claims include civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied good faith and multiple counts of interference with business relations.
But things took another turn last week when Sloane hit back, accusing Baldoni of harassing multiple employees. In legal filings, she called the lawsuit a “smoke and mirrors exercise” meant to shift attention away from Baldoni’s own alleged “sexual harassment and systematic retaliation.”
Sloane’s legal team doubled down, slamming Baldoni’s history of feminist advocacy as “sheer hypocrisy” and accusing him of “egregious sexual harassment of multiple employees,” per Page Six.
Blake Lively's publicist accused Justin Baldoni of harassing multiple employees.
Her lawyers also dismissed Baldoni’s claims that she was behind a “smear campaign” against him, arguing there was no real evidence to back it up.
The motion fired back at Baldoni’s accusations that Lively tried to take control of the film due to creative differences, calling the claims “irrelevant and tellingly sexist.”
"Because Ms. Lively — an executive producer on the film — dared to offer input on the script, wardrobe and editing, Baldoni blasts her as 'tyrannical' and 'aggressive,' among other coded terms," the filing read, per People.
"When Ms. Lively bravely spoke up about Baldoni’s predatory behavior, he and his team used every weapon in their arsenal to blame, embarrass and silence her, going so far as to hire a crisis PR manager who promised to 'bury' Ms. Lively and 'destroy' her life," the document added.
Page Six interviewed Handler.
