Blake Lively’s 38th Birthday Plans Amid Legal Battle with Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively celebrated her 38th birthday on Monday, following a challenging year marked by her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

Lively’s birthday plans would include a celebration with family, a source told People, as the star’s friends have remained silent on social media, and some, like pals Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid, have distanced themselves, amid Lively’s lawsuit. 

Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, the Gossip Girl actress has reportedly been ‘having a great summer’ and ‘it’s mostly been about family time.’

Lively — who shares daughters James, Inez and Betty as well as son Olin with husband Ryan Reynolds, 48 — has also been focusing on ‘some quiet time’ with her loved ones, and being with Reynolds and their four kids ‘unwinds her.’

‘They’ve also traveled as a family,’ before the children’s school resumes, the source said. The insider added that the star is ‘grateful for Ryan’s support over the past year.’ 

Just days before her birthday, Lionsgate announced that Lively will produce and star in a new action rom-com, The Survival List. It’s the first project she has taken on since she sued her It Ends With Us director and co-star, Baldoni, in December 2024. 

Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, which he has denied. Their trial will begin in March 2026 

Though her husband Ryan has publicly wished her happy birthday in the past, he did not mark the occasion this year. 

In 2023, Ryan gushed about Blake, writing on Instagram, ‘The only thing irrevocably mine in the world is the love and appreciation and awe I feel for this person.’

‘Witnessing her life is something I couldn’t take for granted if I tried. And believe me, I try,’ he added.

‘Happy Birthday @blakelively. You hung the damn moon,’ Ryan ended the note.

Though Swift, 35, is the godmother to Lively and Reynolds’ daughters, the singer has fallen out with the movie star, after getting dragged into her legal war with Baldoni.

The Karma hitmaker did not mark Lively’s birthday with any social media posts, though she unveiled the seventh cover for her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl via her Instagram on Monday.

Swift previously shared sweet birthday wishes for the star publicly in 2016, on Lively’s 29th birthday.

The Bad Blood singer posted a throwback photo with the sweet caption: ‘You’re a wonderful friend, to humans and koalas alike.’

Taylor continued, ‘I absolutely love you,’ and included, ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE’ in all caps.

The image showed both of the stars together as Swift held a Koala bear and Blake rubbed the cute grey-haired creature behind his left ear.

It comes amid news that Swift has reportedly cut off communication with Lively as she gears up to release a new album fans believe contains a diss track aimed at the actress, following a rocky turn in their friendship.

Baldoni’s lawyers claimed Lively tried to ‘coerce’ Swift into issuing a public statement in her favor and even urged her to delete texts — a move that led to Swift being subpoenaed, despite her attempts to stay out of the drama.

Baldoni’s team eventually withdrew the paperwork, but the fallout had already taken its toll, as a source told DailyMail.com at the time that Swift ‘is done’ with Lively, feeling she had been ‘exploited.’

On Aug. 13, Swift, 35, announced her upcoming album The Life of a Showgirl, which will include a track titled Ruin the Friendship — a song rumored to be about her relationship with Lively.

The pair weren’t always at odds — their friendship stretches back to 2014 and was once famously tight.

Swift even wove the family into her music. Lively and Reynolds’ daughter James has a voice cameo on Swift’s Reputation track Gorgeous.

All three girls — James, Inez, and Betty — are also name-dropped in Folklore, showing just how closely their lives were once intertwined.

Lively’s other pal, model Gigi, 30 — who has also reportedly distanced herself from Lively — also failed to mark the occasion, despite previously sharing heartfelt public wishes for the star.

This year marks a stark departure from 2023, when Hadid called Lively a ‘magical friend and mamma’ as she marked her 36th birthday. 

And in 2019, the runaway sensation told Lively in a birthday post ‘how grateful and lucky I am to have a friend like you’ adding, ‘You are a real one and inspire me in so many ways.’

Since the release of It Ends With Us in August 2024, Lively has appeared in just one other film, Another Simple Favor, in which she reprised her role as the enigmatic Emily Nelson.

After the latest news broke on Lively’s next gig, The Survival List, social media users were quick to express their disapproval that a studio handed her the reins to another film.

‘Good luck to the director dealing with her drama,’ one wrote on Instagram.

Another quipped: ‘Eeeeek the next director better be ready.’

‘Goodspeed to whoever plays the love interest,’ a third tweeted.

‘Who would wanna work alongside her as a love interest after this I would be fearful to have anything to do with any project that she was on in fear that she made claims about me I feel like she’s a liability at this point,’ a fourth asked.

A fifth outraged X user fired: ‘I’m disgusted! Who is hiring her???’

In December 2024, the actress sued Baldoni for allegedly sexually harassing her on set — claims he denied – before he and Wayfarer Studios fired back with a defamation suit against Blake, her publicist Leslie Sloane and husband Ryan.

Justin also waged war with The New York Times, filing a $250million lawsuit against the publication over its bombshell tell-all on Blake’s sexual harassment claims against her former co-star on December 31, 2024.

On June 9, however, it was learned that a judge dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit in a major setback for the actor’s hopes for a blockbuster win over the millionaire actress.