Justin Baldoni ‘Disappointed’ His Battle With Blake Lively Didn’t Go to Trial: Wanted to ‘Be Heard’

Justin Baldoni was ready to tell his side of the story.

Blake Lively settled her lengthy legal battle with her It Ends With Us costar and director’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, on Monday, May 4 — two weeks before they were supposed to go to trial.

“I think that Justin’s always wanted to be able to be heard, and he’s always wanted to be able to speak and to be able to share what he experienced, what he felt, what his family went through, how he does support women, and how he feels about women, and how he feels about protecting them, and the laws,” his attorney, Bryan Freedman, explained on The Megyn Kelly Show on Friday, June 12.

For that reason, the Jane the Virgin alum, 42, was “disappointed that he didn’t have the form of a trial in which to be able to be heard,” Freedman admitted, before acknowledging, “a trial is hardly the form in which you get to be able to tell your story in the way that you want to.”

Freedman also addressed the opposing attorneys’ declaration, in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, that the settlement represented a “resounding victory” for Lively, who had sued Baldoni, Wayfarer and others, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, though all but the retaliation claims had been dismissed by the judge at the time of settlement.

“All Blake Lively needed to do was to say, ‘No, I’m not settling. Let’s go to the trial and the jury of our peers, and let’s see what we can get.’ If it was so good, why do you settle a case exchanging no money?” Freedman argued. “It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t pass the smell test, but again, that puts us back into the he-said-she-said fight here, fight there, and I think the settlement agreement speaks for itself. You don’t spend $30- $60 million and walk away, without a dime.”

However, according to court documents obtained by Star on June 12, the judge did order Baldoni to pay the 38-year-old’s attorneys’ fees and litigation costs related to his counterclaim of defamation and extortion, which was dismissed last June. The Gossip Girl alum’s request for treble damages and punitive damages was denied.

“Today’s ruling makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1,” her attorneys said in a statement to People.