NEW YORK — No money was exchanged in the settlement between Blake Lively and her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni when they laid down their arms Monday, just weeks before they were set to go to trial.

For all the money the “Gossip Girl” alum, 38, and 42-year-old Baldoni spent on legal counsel since she first filed suit against him in late 2024, they never ended up having to fork over any money to one another, nor did Baldoni issue a formal apology, insiders told TMZ Tuesday.

All this despite Lively in recent days hiring law firm Susman Godfrey, which has a history of winning big for clients, including $425 million against Google and $1.5 billion in an AI dispute.

Perhaps that’s why Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told NBC News that the actor-director is “feeling pretty good.”

Lively and Baldoni had been embroiled in a legal battle since just before Christmas 2024, when she filed a civil rights complaint in California — followed by a lawsuit in New York — accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of their film, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel about an abusive relationship. Lively at the time also accused Baldoni of waging a retaliatory smear campaign.

In recent months, federal New York Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times, for its coverage of Lively’s claims, as well as his $400 million defamation suit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane.

Last month, Liman also tossed 10 of Lively’s 13 claims against Baldoni, including those related to sexual harassment, defamation and conspiracy.

As a source familiar with the matter told NBC, it was after those dismissals that the warring camps started to explore a settlement, even as Lively’s remaining claims were set to go to trial on May 18.

The case was officially put to bed with a settlement Monday afternoon, at which point, Lively and Baldoni’s legal teams released a joint statement.

“Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors — and all survivors — is a goal that we stand behind,” read the statement, in part. “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.”

“There was a willingness to get the case resolved, given the opportunity and the position the case was set, and so, you know, when we were presented with an opportunity, we took that opportunity,” Freedman told NBC, adding that the dismissal of most of Lively’s claims “changed the nature of the case.”

He said he imagines Baldoni “absolutely wants a chance to tell his story,” which Freedman said will happen “maybe sooner than later.”

Shortly before news of the settlement broke, TMZ reported on a Sony email that countered Lively’s statement, made in a summer 2025 deposition, that she’d never requested the studio to delete raw footage — known as “dailies” — from “It Ends with Us.”

In the hours after the settlement, Lively shocked all with a return to the Met Gala.

———

Kim Kardashian is taking a recess from her legal ambitions.

Sources told TMZ the reality star skipped the bar exam in February and that she does not intend to take the test in July either. While aspiring lawyers are allowed two attempts a year at taking the bar, Kardashian reportedly has no plans to try again until at least 2027.

The first exam scheduled for next year is in February, with a sign-up deadline in January. It is unclear whether the “Kardashians” star will be among that group of test takers, the source said.

Kardashian, who plays an attorney on Ryan Murphy’s show, “All’s Fair,” on Hulu, revealed to fans back in November that she had failed her first attempt at the bar.

“Well… I’m not a lawyer yet, I just play a very well-dressed one on TV,” she wrote on Instagram, referencing her role in the legal series.

“Six years into this law journey, and I’m still all in until I pass the bar,” Kardashian continued. “No shortcuts, no giving up — just more studying and even more determination.”

The Skims founder initially shared that she was studying law in a 2019 interview with Vogue. She has said she was in part inspired by her late father, Robert Kardashian, a well-known attorney who famously represented O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial.

In the years since, she’s given fans a peek inside her legal journey, and she has been candid about how difficult it has been. She said she failed the “baby bar” three times before finally passing the exam in 2021.

The “baby bar” is required for students of California’s Law Office Study Program, an apprenticeship that allows students to pursue a legal career without attending law school.

Kardashian announced in May 2025 that she had officially completed the program after six years.

———

NEW YORK — Rihanna was thought to be ticked off at the Met Gala Monday, when her longtime partner A$AP Rocky was seen talking to a woman, which the internet believed rubbed the superstar the wrong way.

A video that’s been viewed over 1.4 million times shows the billionaire Fenty mogul, 38, glancing in the direction of the 37-year-old rapper, real name Rakim Mayers, while he chats with a woman. Rihanna turns to the camera once an interviewer starts asking about her night, as Rocky — seen over her shoulder — and the woman continue talking. He ultimately kisses both of her cheeks before returning with a smile to step in front of Rihanna. The clip cuts off as they start to talk to each other.

However, insiders familiar with the situation identified the woman to TMZ as Italian fashion editor Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, who has “a lot of respect” for the “Disturbia” singer.

The 46-year-old stylist — who has been married to Swedish luxury developer Oscar Engelbert since 2016 — was reportedly having a good natured chat with Rihanna before the Rocky interaction, which centered around a joke about his necklace.

Sources dismissed any of the internet’s speculation of a romantic vibe between Rocky and Engelbert.

Another video TMZ published of Rihanna and Rocky from later in the evening shows them talking aboard a sprinter bus.

Onlookers could be heard wondering if they were “arguing,” as Rihanna appeared “tired” and Rocky at one point looked distant.

A witness told TMZ the parents of three young children appeared to be “having a great time” throughout the night and “did not appear to have any issues.”

———

By Tribune News Service