Justin Baldoni made a surprise return to the spotlight months after his legal settlement with Blake Lively.

The It Ends with Us co-stars were locked in a legal dispute since December 2024, when Lively accused Baldoni - who also directed the movie - of sexual harassment and co-ordinating a smear campaign against her, prompting him and his Wayfarer Studios to hit back with a countersuit accusing her and husband Ryan Reynolds of defamation and extortion.

In April, the couple reached an out-of-court settlement.

On Tuesday (13.10.26), Baldoni, 42, appeared in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during Dancing With The Stars.

Early in the episode, he was shown in the audience with his family, including wife Emily and their 11-year-old daughter Maiya Grace.

According to the Daily Mail, his friend Julianne Hough - who co-hosts the programme - invited him to the studio as her guest.

In August, it was revealed Lively had been awarded $407,451.75 in costs stemming from Baldoni's countersuit.

Lively had initially requested $8,035,040.88 for fighting Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios' defamation countersuit.

But US District Judge Lewis J. Liman ultimately found that Lively was not entitled to recover fees for the litigation as a whole.

Instead, the Hollywood star - who is married to actor Ryan Reynolds - was told by the judge that she could recover reasonable fees and costs connected to defending herself against Baldoni's defamation claim.

Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, Lively's legal team, framed the verdict as a win for their client, describing the ruling as "historic".

In a statement given to People, they said: "This first-ever award of fees and costs under this California law is historic, and demonstrates that there are real consequences of bringing retaliatory lawsuits.

"As we have said from day one, Blake Lively's case was never about money - it was about accountability."

By contrast, Bryan Freedman, the attorney who represents Baldoni and Wayfarer, argued that the judge's verdict "speaks for itself".

Freedman subsequently described the verdict as a "significant victory for my clients" and one that "sends a clear message".

In July, Baldoni and his wife broke their public silence on the legal dispute in an Instagram video.

He said at the time: "We have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years.

"And it's not because we haven't had anything to say, because Lord knows we have, but it just felt like every time we went to make a video like this, we wanted to speak, something was telling us not to.

"It just didn't feel like the right time."

Emily claimed the family have had "a lot of trauma" to "move through".

Justin agreed: "There have been so many painful things that have been spoken to existence...

"We didn't want to add to the noise, so we just wanted to let the justice system run its course."

After the original settlement, Baldoni's legal team claimed they "won", while Lively's attorneys have insisted she "is the prevailing defendant".glo