Justin Baldoni has issued a response after Blake Lively requested a judge to grant a protective order prior to her upcoming deposition.
For those unfamiliar, the 37-year-old American actress’s legal representatives formally requested Judge Lewis J. Liman on Friday, July 11, 2025, to issue a protective order. According to legal documents obtained by PEOPLE magazine, they seek to have her deposition conducted on Thursday, July 17, at a confidential location. They further stipulated that all individuals slated to attend the deposition must be identified in advance.
On Sunday, July 13, Baldoni’s legal team submitted a letter to Judge Liman, in which they opposed Lively’s request. They asserted that she is leveraging her “celebrity status” to dictate and control the deposition “at a location of her choosing.” The letter explicitly stated, “Lively is a plaintiff who has hurled serious allegations of misconduct against the Wayfarer Parties. Like all defendants, the Wayfarer Parties are entitled to depose Lively to develop evidence crucial to their defense. They are also entitled to choose the location of the deposition, which they did.”
The Gossip Girl actress’s request distinctly outlined that she and her team appealed to the judge to prevent the Con Man star and his team from selecting the deposition venue. Her team alleged that Baldoni has “not denied that their intent is to manufacture a harassing publicity stunt by requiring Ms. Lively to parade through paparazzi, or by inviting unknown attendees to the deposition, including members of the media or social media influencers, or any other number of abusive tactics,” and proceeded to claim that his team has refused to address their concerns. The document also noted, “Since virtually the inception of this litigation, Defendants have used even the prospect of Ms. Lively’s deposition to generate press interest.”
Notably, this request followed an earlier statement in May of this year from Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, who suggested that her deposition should take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. At that time, Freedman informed the same outlet, “Hold the deposition at MSG, sell tickets or stream it, and donate every dollar to organizations helping victims of domestic abuse.”
However, a representative for The Shallows star stated that she “is looking forward to her deposition next week, and it should follow the same rules as every other witness in this case.” The representative added, “Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has tried to make this matter a public spectacle at every turn, even proposing to sell tickets to a televised deposition at Madison Square Garden.” The statement concluded, “This is a serious matter of sexual harassment and retaliation and it deserves to be treated as such.”
It is important to note that the trial involving Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is scheduled to commence in March 2026 in New York City.
