Blake Lively Gives 1st Interview at SXSW 2025 Amid Ongoing Legal Dispute with Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively’s SXSW 2025 appearance turned heads as she attended the festival for the premiere of her film Another Simple Favor and gave her first interview since she and Justin Baldoni became embroiled in a heated legal battle in December 2024.

“I love this character so much,” Blake, 37, began, referring to her character Emily in the movie in a video shared by Page Six. “It’s probably my favorite character I’ve ever been fortunate enough to play, and so when Paul [Feig] asked us to come back, I was so excited.”

She continued, “I was really nervous on the first one because we didn’t know if we were making a drama or a comedy. When we asked Paul, he said, ‘Yes,’ which is not really an answer to the question, but it worked out. So, I was like, ‘OK, no nerves. I know what I’m doing this time.’ Then, right before we started shooting, he was like, ‘I have a little bit of a curveball idea,’ which I’m not going to say what it was because, you know, we don’t want to give away anything. But it definitely upped the ante. It was very uncomfortable to watch in this theater with you all.”

During Blake’s SXSW 2025 interview, she added that in the end, “it was fun” and that “it was always fun” working with the Bridesmaids director, along with the cast of Another Simple Favor, including Anna Kendrick.

The former Gossip Girl star filed a lawsuit in December 2024 and accused Justin, 41, of inappropriate behavior on the set of It Ends With Us, including allegations that he organized a smear campaign in an effort to “destroy” her reputation.

The Five Feet Apart director denied the claims.

“It is shameful that Ms. Lively and her representatives would make such serious and categorically false accusations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its representatives,” Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement to The New York Times.

Justin then filed a lawsuit of his own against Blake, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist Leslie Sloane in January. The Jane the Virgin alum alleged that Blake “deliberately and systematically robbed” him and Wayfarer Studios of the film It Ends With Us, but The Town actress’ legal team denied the claims.

“The strategy of attacking the woman is desperate, it does not refute the evidence in Ms. Lively’s complaint, and it will fail,” a representative said in a statement to In Touch on January 17.

Blake and Ryan, 48, have only recently begun to make more public appearances since she filed the lawsuit against her It Ends With Us costar. Aside from Blake’s SXSW 2025 appearance, she and Ryan attended the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special on February 16, and the Deadpool star even joked about the situation involving Justin.

During a segment that featured Tina Fey and Amy Poehler taking questions from the audience, Amy, 53, asked Ryan how he was doing.

“Great. Why, what have you heard?” Ryan replied, acting nervous.

A few days later, longtime SNL staff member Wally Feresten claimed that The Proposal actor had a hand in writing the joke.

“He had a different line in rehearsal and he pitched that to replace it,” Wally, 60, said during an appearance on the “Fifi, Fev & Nick” podcast on February 20. “That was his idea … We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it.”

However, a representative for Ryan denied the claim and told USA Today that was “not true.”