Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settle legal dispute before trial

Justin Baldoni's lawyer stated that Blake Lively settled her lawsuit with her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director because she was scared to testify at trial. The attorney, Bryan Freedman, made the comments to TMZ on Thursday as Lively continues to seek attorneys' fees and damages connected with Baldoni's dismissed $400 million countersuit against her.

"Part of the reason Blake settled is because she was scared to take the witness stand at trial," Freedman said. " Freedman added that Lively lied about telling Sony to destroy the dailies and lied that she never told "It Ends With Us" author Colleen Hoover to unfollow Justin Baldoni.

He said that in her deposition, Colleen Hoover stated Blake asked her to unfollow him, and there were more lies. "Bottom line, Blake filed a claim for $300 million and she ended up with nothing," Freedman said. " He continued that if Lively is doing this for survivors of sexual assault, sexual harassment and retaliation, as she says, then she should have taken the stand at trial to prove it.

A trial would have exposed her lies and the entire smear she was talking about in her interviews, he said.

A judge had tossed out 10 of Lively's 13 claims against Baldoni a month earlier. Both sides said in a joint statement that the movie "It Ends With Us" is a source of pride to all who worked to bring it to life. They added that raising awareness and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors and all survivors is a goal that they stand behind.

Page Six reported that the pair spent a combined $60 million suing one another, and neither received money in the settlement. Lively's legal team called the agreement a resounding victory, stating that by agreeing to the settlement and waiving their right to appeal, Justin Baldoni and every individual defendant now face personal liability for abusing the legal system to silence and intimidate Lively.

"From day one Blake Lively's mission was clear: expose and hold accountable those who weaponize smear campaigns and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors," her team said. " In response to Freedman's comments, Lively's team told TMZ that they guess Baldoni is no longer ecstatic about the settlement.

Baldoni was said to be ecstatic after settling his legal battle. Freedman told Extra TV that Justin wants to help people who have experienced similar experiences when they felt they were accused of something they did not do. Lively attended the Met Gala a few hours after agreeing to the settlement.