Blake Lively has withdrawn her Perez Hilton subpoena in her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.
Court documents obtained by Page Six show that Lively submitted her request on Friday shortly after Hilton — who had been representing himself in the matter — retained the ACLU of Nevada to represent him.
In response to the decision, Hilton told us, “I am certain with every fiber of my being that if the ACLU of Nevada had not agreed to represent me and had they not called her lawyers yesterday to inform them of that, Blake would absolutely still be pursuing the subpoena! They withdrew today — after yesterday’s call.”
Reps for Lively did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Hilton, who founded the eponymous celebrity gossip website in 2004, was subpoenaed by Lively in July.
The actress, 38, alleged that he colluded with her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director, Baldoni — whom she is suing for sexual harassment and retaliation — by using his “sizable digital platform” to launch a smear campaign against her.
“Nobody told me to write anything negative about her. Nobody paid me to write anything negative about her. Nobody gave me talking points, etc., etc., etc.,” Hilton, 47, told us last month ahead of his first hearing, saying he was feeling “exhaustion,” “relief,” “cautious optimism” and “tempered confidence” leading up to his day in court.
“It really feels like a case of a real-life David vs. Goliath. David being Justin Baldoni — and in this instance, me — and Goliath being Blake Lively and her A-list, very powerful, very famous, very rich husband, [Ryan Reynolds], using their power and money to retaliate against Justin Baldoni and retaliate against me,” Hilton alleged.
He noted that he is “not being sued” and claimed he “did nothing wrong,” calling the subpoena “burdensome,” “too broad” and threatening to his “journalistic sources and work product” as well as his “privileged and protected information.”
After he filed a motion to quash, Lively filed a cross-motion to compel, arguing that Hilton does not “hold himself out as operating as an independent journalist, nor does he purport to follow any of the tenets of independent journalism.”
However, according to Hilton, “that’s wrong” because digital journalists are “entitled to the same protections and privileges as traditional journalists.”
He said, “I believe that that is a misrepresentation of the law, and that’s what I will argue in court.”
Of the negative content he’s shared about the “Gossip Girl” star, Hilton told us, “I didn’t need any talking points. I didn’t need anyone to help me form my own opinion. She doesn’t want to believe that it was organic, but it was.
“And that inability to accept — ‘maybe people are not liking me because the things I’ve said or because of what I’ve filed in the courts’ — that inability is what has led us to this point now.”
As for Baldoni, 41, he has denied Lively’s allegations. He countersued her and Reynolds for defamation and extortion, but his lawsuit was tossed out over what Hilton described as “technicalities.”
Lively and Baldoni are expected to testify when her case is tried in March 2026.
