Blake Lively’s Lawyer Speaks Out in First Interview, Reveals Actress Will Testify in Justin Baldoni Trial (Exclusive)

• Blake Lively’s attorney Mike Gottlieb confirms to PEOPLE exclusively that the actress is planning to testify in her upcoming trial against Justin Baldoni

• In a statement to PEOPLE, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman hit back: “The truth has been clearly shown through unedited receipts, documents and real life footage. More to come”

• The trial is scheduled to begin in March 2026

Blake Lively is preparing to speak out — under oath.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actress’s attorney, Mike Gottlieb, confirms that Lively, 37, is expected to take the stand in the upcoming trial involving her It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni.

“Yes,” Gottlieb said when asked if Lively will testify. “The ultimate moment for a plaintiff’s story to be told is at trial. We expect that to be the case here [with Lively]. So we would, of course, expect her to be a witness at her trial. Of course she’s going to testify.”

Speculation around Lively’s role in the trial surged in late April following her speech at the TIME100 Gala. Before revealing onstage that her mother had survived an attack by a “work acquaintance who attempted to take her life” before Lively was born, the star hinted at the case, saying there was “so much to say about the last two years of my life.”

Lively’s legal team claims she also won’t be the only one stepping forward.

“There are individuals that were witnesses to or experienced misconduct that is relevant to Ms. Lively’s claims,” Gottlieb asserts. “We expect their testimony, particularly about what took place on set, will come out through live witness testimony.”

With discovery underway, both parties will begin questioning those involved.

“In discovery, they’ll have an opportunity to ask Ms. Lively questions,” Gottlieb says. “Likewise, we will have the opportunity to take the depositions of the defendants.”

Beyond witness accounts, Lively’s legal team insists their case will also rely on “evidence.” In addition to live testimony, the legal team plans to present documents and statements from producers, Sony Pictures and other eyewitnesses.

Gottlieb argues that public conversation surrounding Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle has strayed from the core of the case.

“We think there have been a lot of distractions put up to deflect attention from the retaliation campaign that was launched against her,” he claims. “And we expect and hope that in discovery we’ll have an opportunity to really focus on what we believe to be the core part of the case, which is that this retaliation campaign was launched against Ms. Lively for her having raised concerns about sexual harassment.”

Whether Reynolds, 48, will testify remains uncertain. He’s currently named as a defendant in Baldoni’s countersuit, but Lively’s team is moving to dismiss those claims. “Our belief is that they’re frivolous,” says Gottlieb, adding that if the claims are dropped, Reynolds “may or may not be a fact witness.”

Over the last few months, Baldoni’s team has said they may subpoena major celebrities like Taylor Swift and Hugh Jackman.

“It’s completely unclear what claims or defenses in the case any of these celebrities… have any relevance to at all,” Gottlieb says. “This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on the set. It’s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. It’s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in Deadpool movies.”

“You have to ask the question, then, why are these people being subpoenaed?” he continues. “Do they have any actual relevance to the case at hand? You can’t just go around subpoenaing people because they’re famous and you think it will generate a bunch of headlines. And the federal courts don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman pushed back on Gottlieb’s claims and accused Lively of attempting to deflect from the facts of the case.

“Although obviously uncomfortable for the Lively parties, the truth is not a distraction. The truth has been clearly shown through unedited receipts, documents and real life footage. More to come,” Freedman says. “Blake was the one who brought her high-profile friends into this situation without concern for their own personal or public backlash. As the truth shows, she used her Dragons to manipulate Justin at every turn.”

Freedman also alleged misconduct by Reynolds, claiming, “Ryan’s involvement is very well documented and we continue to discover more intentional misconduct. Was Disney actually complicit in Ryan using shareholder revenues to further a personal grudge? I would be surprised to learn that this type of corporate waste would not lead to much more exposure for those that have been complicit in affecting shareholder revenue.”

As for concerns the courtroom could turn into a media circus, Gottlieb is clear he doesn’t want that to happen.

“We don’t expect this case is going to turn into a circus of parading in every celebrity that might have ever had a conversation with Blake Lively or Ryan Reynolds — or, in the same way, about any famous person who might’ve ever had a conversation with Justin Baldoni or Steve Sorowitz,” he says.

The case stems from the 2024 filming of It Ends with Us, which debuted in theaters that August. In December, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, followed by a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and a subsequent smear campaign against her. The complaint named Wayfarer Studios and several individuals associated with the production.

Baldoni denied the allegations and filed a $400 million countersuit, naming Lively, Reynolds, Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane and her firm Vision PR, accusing them of defamation and civil extortion, which Lively’s attorneys have called “meritless.”

Lively has filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s countersuit, calling it “vengeful” and citing a California law prohibiting retaliation tied to public disclosures of sexual harassment.

Baldoni’s attorneys have also asked the judge to deny her motion to dismiss; they’ve said her legal move was “abhorrent” and they’ll aim to hold her “accountable for her actions of pure malice, which include falsely accusing my clients of harassment and retaliation.”

The trial is scheduled to begin in March 2026.

Read the original article on People