Hours after her case with Justin Baldoni was settled, Blake Lively unexpectedly appeared at the Met Gala.
Blake Lively arrives for the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Leonardo MUNOZ / AFP) (AFP)
Blake Lively at the Met Gala
Pictures from the red carpet of the 2026 Met Gala showed Blake, 38, arriving at the exclusive event in a full ball gown that erupted in a cloud of pink, purple and yellow tulle. AFP reported that her appearance on the red carpet was a ‘surprise’ as she appeared there just hours after reaching a settlement in her bitter legal battle with fellow actor Justin Baldoni.
On the red carpet, Blake posed for the shutterbugs and even waved to the fans, maintaining a smile throughout the evening.
Blake Lively poses for the cameras outside the 2026 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, on May 4, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (AFP)
Blake Lively settles legal battle with Justin Baldoni
Earlier on Monday, Blake and Baldoni released a joint statement announcing they were settling a legal case related to their 2024 film, It Ends With Us. In 2024, after the film’s release, Blake first privately accused Justin Baldoni of sexually harassing her on sets and then sued him for trying to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Weeks later, Baldoni countersued Blake and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, for defamation and extortion. He accused the couple and their publicist of trying to seize creative control of the movie.
Last year, a federal judge dismissed most of the two actors’ claims, but some claims were set to proceed to trial later this month. However, just two weeks before that, the two actors settled. “It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online,” the statement further read. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
About the 2026 Met Gala
The Met Gala is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, and this year has raised a record $42 million (after $31 million in 2025), the museum’s CEO Max Hollein told reporters early Monday. This year’s exhibit juxtaposes elegant fashion looks with paintings and sculpture, celebrating ‘costume art’. “When I think about the show, if there’s one word to describe it, I suppose it would be equitability or equivalency, equivalency between artworks,” the Costume Institute’s curator Andrew Bolton told AFP.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
