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Blake Lively reacts to harassment claims dismissal against Justin Baldoni

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Blake Lively reacts to harassment claims dismissal against Justin Baldoni


Blake Lively reacts to harassment claims dismissal against Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively’s legal team has hit back after a federal judge dismissed her sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni, insisting the ruling was a legal technicality rather than any kind of vindication for the It Ends With Us director.

Attorney Michael Gottlieb said in a statement shared with PEOPLE that Lively’s harassment allegations “have always been the beating heart of Ms. Lively’s case. They are why she filed her lawsuit.” 

He was clear that the dismissal did not reflect the merits of those allegations. 

“The Court’s ruling that Ms. Lively’s state and federal harassment claims could not go to trial was about legal issues rather than an endorsement of the defendants’ conduct,” he said, explaining that the claims were barred on technical grounds, Lively had not signed a contract, was classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee, and the alleged conduct took place in New Jersey rather than California.

Federal judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed ten of the thirteen claims Lively filed against Baldoni on Thursday, 2 April, including the harassment allegations, ahead of the trial scheduled for 18 May in New York. 

What remains, breach of contract and a retaliation claim under the Fair Employment and Housing Act against Baldoni’s company Wayfarer Studios, will go before a jury. 

Both Lively and Baldoni are expected to testify.

Baldoni’s side wasted no time framing the ruling as a significant win. 

His lawyers described themselves as “very pleased” that all harassment claims and every claim against the individual defendants had been dismissed, calling what remained “a significantly narrowed case.” 

In a separate statement to TMZ, attorney Bryan Freedman went further.

“Neither Justin Baldoni, Jamey Heath nor any of the other defendants have engaged in the sexual harassment of Blake Lively,” he said, adding that his clients had “deserved a vigorous defense which was led through transparency.”

Gottlieb fired back sharply. 

“Claiming exoneration based on legal technicalities while facing trial next month tells you everything you need to know,” he said, pointing out that Freedman had not even argued the summary judgment motion he was now publicly spinning, had brought in another firm for the trial, and had been reprimanded by the court the previous week for filing legally frivolous claims. 

“What the Court actually decided yesterday is that Blake Lively provided evidence to go to trial on her core claims,” Gottlieb said.

Lively first filed her sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni in December 2024, alleging misconduct on set and a coordinated retaliatory smear campaign, which Baldoni has denied. 

Baldoni’s own counterclaims against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging extortion and defamation, were dismissed by the same judge in June 2025, with his legal team choosing not to refile.





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‘Teen Mom’ star’s wife taken into police custody for DUI

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‘Teen Mom’ star’s wife taken into police custody for DUI


‘Teen Mom’ star’s wife taken into police custody for DUI

Amanda Conner, wife of Teen Mom star Ryan Edwards, was arrested on Sunday morning near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and charged with driving under the influence and child abuse and neglect after allegedly getting behind the wheel with the couple’s baby daughter in the car.

According to TMZ, which first reported the arrest, Conner was also charged with driving on the wrong side of the road. 

A dispatch call obtained by the outlet indicated that it was her husband who alerted police, having grown concerned that she may have taken narcotics before leaving the house with the baby. 

Her bond was set at $16,000, and she had not been released by 4:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. A court hearing has been scheduled for 3 June.

Conner, 35, and Edwards, 37, married in September 2025, just some time after he finalised his divorce from his previous wife, Mackenzie Standifer.

The pair had been friends for years before beginning a relationship in September 2023. Together they share a one-year-old daughter, Presley, who was in the car at the time of the alleged incident.

The arrest arrives against a complicated family backdrop. 

Edwards has had a well-documented history of addiction and legal troubles stretching back years, including a 2023 court order requiring him to seek help for substance abuse following a series of arrests involving Standifer. 

He is also father to Bentley, 17, with fellow Teen Mom original cast member Maci Bookout, as well as Jagger, 7, and Stella, 6, with Standifer.

Bookout, who married Taylor McKinney in 2016 and shares two children with him, has spoken candidly in the past about the toll Edwards’ struggles have taken. 

“Obviously, when things first went down with Ryan and him having to go to jail and making stupid decisions and stuff, I definitely had a breaking point then,” she shared. 

She described therapy and self-compassion as the tools that helped her through. 

“I think the therapy I had done previously… and just making sure that I check in with myself and that I give myself grace and that I let myself fall apart and then pick myself back up is a game changer.”





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Gordon Ramsay reveals ‘most important thing in life’

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Gordon Ramsay reveals ‘most important thing in life’


Gordon Ramsay reveals ‘most important thing in life’

Gordon Ramsay may have built his reputation on Michelin stars and television fireworks, but when it comes to raising his six children, the lesson he holds above all others is a rather simpler one.

Speaking to Fox News Digital in an interview published on Sunday, 24 May, the 59-year-old chef revealed what he considers the single most important thing he has instilled in his kids. 

“The one thing I’ve taught them all, brilliantly, are manners,” he said, adding with characteristic directness: “The most important thing in life, but they cost zero.”

Ramsay shares his six children, Megan, 28, Holly, 26, Jack, 26, Matilda, 24, Oscar, 7, and Jesse, 2, with his wife Tana. 

On the professional front, one of his children appears to be following closely in his footsteps. 

Ramsay spoke to PEOPLE in February about his daughter Matilda, known as Tilly, who has chosen to pursue a career in food, a decision that clearly delights him. 

Ramsay spoke to PEOPLE again at the Fox Upfront event on 11 May, where he was celebrating the renewal of several of his shows including Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, Next Level Chef, Next Level Baker, Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service and Gordon Ramsay’s Being Gordon Ramsay

Asked which of his six shows currently on air is his favourite, he reached for a familiar metaphor. 

“I have six shows on air right now. That’s like saying, I have six kids as well, what’s my favourite kid? It depends, it’s the one that least pisses me off at the moment.”

Six kids, six shows, and a firm belief in the power of a please and a thank you. Not a bad philosophy, all things considered.





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Patti LaBelle on being called a legend: “I have earned it”

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Patti LaBelle on being called a legend: “I have earned it”


Patti LaBelle has been singing for six decades, earning hit records, Grammys and the nickname the “Godmother of Soul.” As she celebrates her 82nd birthday on Sunday, she said she’s “having fun living it down.” 

“At 82, I am really living it down, not up. But having fun living it down. I play cards. We have card games on Saturday nights,” LaBelle said. “How easy is it to play cards and take other folks’ money? That’s what I do, and I love it.”

Just like her high notes, she has staying power. LaBelle is still professionally singing, something she said she has to do.

“Singing is my life,” she said, adding that her voice is “big. It’s loud. It’s soft. It can rap. It can do opera, on a good day.” 

LaBelle spent her childhood in Philadelphia, a place she still calls home. Back then, she was a shy girl named Patsy Holt.

“My mother had to pay me to go outside. I was very, very, very shy. I would sing in my bedroom with the broom as a microphone. So I knew I had a voice and my mother and father loved my voice,” LaBelle said. 

At age 10, she joined a church choir where a duet unlocked the magic of performing. She said she still remembers getting the chills the moment when everyone stood up and said, “Hallelujah.”

As a teen, she started singing with a group. A record label executive suggested she change her name to LaBelle, which means beautiful, but with that advice came a nasty assessment. He called her “quite ugly.” 

“It gave me hurt, just total, total hurt, because I knew how much he loved my voice. And I knew, no matter what anyone said about me, I am who I am, I’m not gonna change. The only thing that changed was my nose. I had a huge nose, so I had it done,” she said. “And that’s all I’ve ever had done. My nose, because it was not pleasing to me.” 

When Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles became simply Labelle, they changed their style to what the singer described as “outrageous crazy outfits.” They turned “Lady Marmalade,” a song about a Creole prostitute, into a classic hit.

“We were singing about the revolution and sexual things before any Black girl or White girl group sang,” LaBelle said. 

“When we sang [Lady Marmalade], we didn’t know what ‘voulez-vous coucher avec moi’ meant. It means, ‘Will you sleep with me tonight?’ So we got a lotta flak from the nuns and different people. And I was saying, at that time, ‘Well, a hooker has to make money too,'” she laughed. 

The group split in 1977 but stayed friends. LaBelle said she was petrified when she stepped out as a solo artist for the first time. Getting therapy “helped a whole lot,” she said. 

“I learned that I’m never gonna stop singing. And if it’s with a group or alone, that’s what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life,” LaBelle said. 

LaBelle’s other talent is cooking. She’s written several bestselling cookbooks and has her own line of food and houseware products, Patti’s Good Life. Her hometown is filled with fans, and even visiting a Philadelphia ShopRite to hand out pancake mix caused quite a stir.   

LaBelle isn’t planning to give up singing anytime soon. 

“It’s never my last show. I’ll be singing until I can’t no more,” she said. 

And on her 82nd birthday, maybe the real gift is that LaBelle knows exactly who she is — a mother, grandmother, and yes, a legend.

“I love it. I should be called, ‘Legend, legend, legend, legend.’ Yes. I love it,” she laughed. “I have earned it. Yes, I have.”

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Patti LaBelle (Video)



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