Justin Baldoni and his wife, Emily Baldoni, found solace in their shared faith following their lengthy legal drama.
“We are healing, and if you’ve ever been through something traumatic, you know that healing isn’t linear,” Justin, 42, said in a Wednesday, July 8, social media video, making his first comments since his lawsuit with Blake Lively was settled. “It looks different every day, and we have had to rethink for ourselves what is real and what matters and it’s this, it’s our family, it’s our friends, it’s our community [who] have been there for us, it’s our faith.”
Justin and Emily, 41, are practicing members of Baha’i, a religion founded in the 19th century that focuses on the unity of humanity and the elimination of prejudice.
“I think we’re closer and more devoted and steadfast in our faith than we’ve ever been,” Justin added, noting that wife had prayed for fans’ “discernment” and support. “There were so many of you who, when we didn’t have a voice, were our voice. … So many of you had discernment and you used your intuition and you trusted that, and you have given your time to fight for us.”
He continued, “Thank you does not feel like enough, but we’re here in large part because of so many of you and all of our friends and family.”
In late 2023, Justin’s It Ends With Us costar Lively, 38, accused him of sexual harassment, fostering a hostile work environment and attempting to ruin her reputation. Justin vehemently denied the allegations and filed a defamation suit against Lively, which was ultimately dismissed.
A judge ultimately ruled in May to dismiss a majority of Lively’s claims before the remaining charges were settled weeks before a trial was scheduled to begin.
Throughout the legal back-and-forth, Justin and Emily opted against speaking publicly.
“We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say,” the director said in his Wednesday upload. “Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this where we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to. It just doesn’t feel like the right time. We were talking about it and feeling into it and praying about it.”
While not discussing the fallout from the case, Emily acknowledged that the couple had “so much to unpack” after Justin faced multiple allegations of misconduct.
“It’s important as we say that, in that gratitude, it doesn’t negate the injustice and the pain that we have also felt in the last few years,” Emily stated. “We’ve had to wrestle with so many things and try to understand so many things, like, ‘How could something like this even happen?’ Let alone disguise[d] as a fight for women. … The truth is that there’s been a lot of trauma for us to move through as a family, which also makes it hard to speak. The truth and the facts have spoken for themselves, and here we are.”
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