New York City’s Lincoln Center buzzed with star power on April 24, 2025, as Blake Lively stepped to the mic at the Time 100 Gala. Honored as one of the magazine’s Most Influential People of 2025, the actress didn’t just soak in the applause. She used her moment to shine a light on workplace safety, weaving in a subtle jab at her ongoing legal tangle with “It Ends With Us” co-star and director Justin Baldoni. Her speech, raw and deliberate, also paid tribute to her mother’s survival of a brutal workplace assault decades ago.
Lively, 37, kept it cryptic but pointed. “I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” she said, her voice steady. The crowd, packed with A-listers like Serena Williams and Demi Moore, leaned in. She pivoted to the broader struggle: “What I will speak to, separately, is the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.” That line landed hard, especially given her public feud with Baldoni, which kicked off in December 2024. Lively sued him, alleging sexual harassment and a smear campaign. Baldoni fired back with a $400 million defamation suit against her, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, denying every claim. The legal slugfest, set for trial in 2026, hung over her words like a storm cloud.
She turned personal, introducing her mother, Willie Elain McAlpin, who sat in the audience. Lively shared a gut-punch story: years before she was born, McAlpin, then a mother of three, survived an attempted murder by a work acquaintance. Justice never came. But McAlpin’s life was saved by a stranger’s radio testimony about escaping a similar attack. “That woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped,” Lively said. “Because of hearing her speak, instead of shutting down in fear, my mom is alive today.” The room went quiet. Lively drove the point home: “I am here, being honored, because of a woman whose name I’ll never know.”
Then came the broader callout. Lively spoke of a grim reality women face: “We don’t let our daughters know, but one day we break their hearts by letting them in on the secret—that they are not and will likely never be safe at work, at home, in a parking lot, in a medical office, online, in any space they inhabit physically, emotionally, professionally.” It was a stark indictment, tied to her own allegations of a hostile work environment on the “It Ends With Us” set. She didn’t name Baldoni, but the subtext was clear.
Lively also gave a nod to Reynolds, who was at the gala, calling him “kind and good when no one is watching.” She closed with a shoutout to “all the communities across the gender, age, political, geographical, and racial spectrum who fight every day just to be safe.” The applause was thunderous.
The gala, held at Jazz at Lincoln Center, capped a two-day celebration of Time’s 2025 list, which also honored Snoop Dogg, Simone Biles, and Mark Zuckerberg. Lively’s inclusion, announced on April 16, sparked chatter. Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill penned her Time tribute, praising Lively’s philanthropy, including a $1 million donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 2019. But not everyone cheered. Some criticized the pick, pointing to her messy legal battle and past controversies, like her 2012 wedding at a former plantation.
Lively’s speech didn’t dwell on the noise. It was a calculated blend of personal and political, a moment where she reclaimed her narrative while amplifying a cause. The gala went on—Ed Sheeran performed, Snoop Dogg hosted—but Lively’s words lingered, a reminder of the battles fought on and off the red carpet.
The event took place on April 24, 2025, in New York City. Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company alleges sexual harassment and retaliation. Baldoni’s countersuit targets Lively, Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane for defamation. Both sides deny the other’s claims. The Time 100 list was published on April 16, 2025.