Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni meet in court for settlement talks
Justin Baldoni and Emily Baldoni arrive at New York Federal Courthouse for his trial against Blake Lively on Feb. 11, 2026, in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
Actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are facing off in a New York City federal court for a settlement conference in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, with whom she co-starred in It Ends With Us.
The It Ends With Us co-stars, flanked by their attorneys, smiled at a small crowd of media gathered outside of the U.S. District Court as they entered Wednesday morning, but did not speak to reporters.
The court-ordered settlement conference is a last effort for a resolution ahead of the actors’ scheduled May 18 trial in a legal battle that has stretched on for more than a year.
According to court documents, each side will make a 10- to 15-minute presentation during the conference summarizing the issues attorneys believe are important for the opposing party to consider.
The judge will then meet separately with each side in private. The proceedings are not open to the public or press, and there is no word on how long Wednesday’s conference is expected to last.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us, and accusing both Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, of engaging in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
The two later filed lawsuits against each other in New York, with Lively reiterating the claims made in her earlier complaint and accusing Baldoni and Wayfarer of allegedly engaging in “unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing” to ruin her reputation in a lawsuit seeking $500 million in damages.
Baldoni’s attorney denied the allegations.
Shortly after Lively filed her lawsuit, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist for extortion and defamation, claiming Lively had “robbed” him of control over the film and had destroyed his reputation.
Lively’s lawyers denied the allegations and called Baldoni’s suit “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
A federal judge in New York dismissed Baldoni’s suit last June, formally ending the counterclaim in October after Baldoni did not refile an amended complaint.
Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow attend the ‘Iron Man 3’ photocall at The Dorchester on April 17, 2013, in London, England. (Mike Marsland/Getty Images)
Even more stars have been announced as presenters at the 98th Oscars.
Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal and Gwyneth Paltrow will take to the Oscars stage to present awards at this year’s ceremony, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.
They join the previously announced presenters Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani and Maya Rudolph.
Also presenting are Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña, who will all return to the awards ceremony after winning Oscars last year.
The producers for the Oscars will continue announcing the talent who will present at the show throughout the coming week, they announced.
Conan O’Brien will host the awards ceremony for the second time, while Raj Kapoor serves as executive producer and showrunner and Katy Mullan executive produces.
The Oscars will take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show will air live on ABC and will also stream live on Hulu.
James Van Der Beek arrives at the premiere of Prime Video series ‘Overcompensating’ at Hollywood Palladium on May 14, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek and films including Varsity Blues, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”
Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.
In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined Good Morning America to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.
“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments. … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.
“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank gGod this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”
Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.
It was while he was a student at Drew in 1998 that Van Der Beek auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek said about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with Good Morning America. “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”
Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle. “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”
Despite having already begun a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not, which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s Dawson’s Creek fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama Varsity Blues. Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
“It was a movie I really, really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told Good Morning America. “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially.”
The success of Varsity Blues led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up Scary Movie, in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his Dawson’s Creek character, the 2001 Western Texas Rangers and the 2002 dark comedy Rules of Attraction. Later film roles included the 2009 thriller Formosa Betrayed, 2013’s Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including How I Met Your Mother, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, One Tree Hill,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Cyber and Modern Family, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series Vampirina. Van Der Beek also placed fifth on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.
In September 2025, the cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person — Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place — but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
‘The Muppet Show’ stars Sabrina Carpenter and the original Muppet cast. (Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
Muppet fans, rejoice.
Disney+ has released the official trailer for The Muppet Show special event that’s coming to the streaming service and ABC on Feb. 4.
Along with the new trailer, the highly anticipated special has added Maya Rudolph as a guest star. Rudolph joins the cast that also includes special guest star Sabrina Carpenter, and the show’s executive producer and guest star Seth Rogen.
Fans can expect the special to feature beloved Muppets like Miss Piggy and Kermit back for this brand-new event. “Music, comedy, and a whole lot of chaos are bound to ensue when The Muppets once again take the stage of the original Muppet Theatre with their very special guest, Sabrina Carpenter!” according to the event’s official synopsis.
The trailer finds Kermit walking through the backstage areas of The Muppet Theatre before settling down at his desk with a cup of tea. All the while, his friend Rowlf plays the piano beside him.
“Rowlf, have you been playing this whole time?” Kermit asks.
“Well, what did you think it was? Some kind of sentimental montage in your head? We’re doing the show again, frog!”
We then see Miss Piggy interacting with Carpenter. The pop star tells Miss Piggy she is her idol.
“I grew up watching you, my parents grew up watching you, their parents grew up watching you,” Carpenter says, before Miss Piggy makes an annoyed scream.
The original The Muppet Show series was created by Jim Henson and ran from 1976 to 1981. 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Muppet Show, which has all five seasons available to stream on Disney+.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News, Disney+ and The Muppets Studio.
