Add The New York Post on Google Blake Lively will concede when hell freezes over.
Despite settling her contentious legal battle with Justin Baldoni just hours before she dramatically ascended the stairs at the Met Gala last month — with an army of minions to fluff her 13-foot Versace train for the cameras — the actress is still battling over damages.
Also at stake: the victimhood status she so desperately craves.
And she’ll happily lift other people’s hard work to get it.
On Monday, both sides argued in Manhattan Federal Court over whether Lively is entitled to potentially massive damages under a relatively new California law that’s meant to protect survivors of sexual assault and harassment from protracted retaliatory legal battles.
But the woman behind the “Speak Your Truth” law doesn’t have kind words for Lively. Victoria Burke accuses the actress of using the legislation to mop up the mess she made of her once good name after accusing her “It Ends With Us” co-star Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation, in a blockbuster lawsuit that only exposed her empty hand.
“Never thought my bill would be in the eye of the storm with all eyes watching,” Burke, an attorney, posted on Instagram.
“As the architect of the bill, I strongly believe in the constitutionality of my bill. [I’m] Unhappy with it being weaponized as a PR redemption tool by Blake Lively & her team. Honestly, I don’t think the judge should grant attorney fees in this matter.”
Burke, who is also a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, drafted the legislation based on her own harrowing sexual assault, which she said occurred in 2019 after drinks with an acquaintance that landed her in the hospital.
“One minute I’m in this nice restaurant, and the next minute I’m waking up, coming out of a severe coma in the ER, not knowing how I got there,” she told NPR in 2024. “It was absolutely terrifying.”
Burke recalled a friend warning her not to name her attacker publicly because he could sue her for defamation. Thus began her own pursuit to protect victims. (She said her law doesn’t eliminate access to court for folks falsely accused.)
On Tuesday, Burke appeared on the “Megyn Kelly Show” to describe how Lively essentially co-opted her work. The attorney said she received a notice from the actress’ legal team notifying her that their client would be moving to take the law — which is currently in four states — nationwide.
“I responded, ‘Umm. I’m already doing that, and can you please check with me before going forward because my whole strategy was to fly this under the radar because we basically don’t have much opposition,'” she said, adding that Lively is often compared to Amber Heard so it wouldn’t exactly, er, help their case.
Indeed, Burke saw the reality: Lively has suffered great reputational damage in this knock-down, drag-out fight with Baldoni and is in desperate need of any win.
“I didn’t want her to turn my bill into the Met Gala,” Burke said.
Imagine your life’s work, which is ongoing, being scooped up by a beleaguered actress so she can be the one to cross the goal line and spike the ball.
It becomes her victory. Her cause. Her name in lights. It’s pure narcissism.
It should be noted that, after Baldoni’s defamation suit against Lively was tossed last June, Burke said that her law was “working exactly as I intended it.”
However, she changed her tune after learning that the judge tossed it on procedural grounds — not because he found Baldoni acted with malice.
Now that more facts are out in the open, Lively’s intentions look more and more craven.
The star is on a mission to secure her victimhood status by hook or crook — even if she has to step on real victims in the process.
