Blake Lively seeking $8 million in legal fees from Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively is seeking more than $8 million (£6 million) in legal fees from Justin Baldoni.

The former Gossip Girl star has asked a federal judge to award her $8.04 million (£6.07 million) in legal fees and litigation costs following the dismissal of the defamation-related lawsuit brought against her by her It Ends With Us co-star and director.

According to court documents filed on Monday, Lively is seeking $7,495,526.87 (£5,666,993.09) in legal fees, along with a further $539,514.01 (£407,993.98) in expenses and litigation costs accrued during the lengthy legal battle with Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios.

Lively's legal team argued that the work involved in defending the lawsuit was "comprehensive and necessary to achieve the complete win that was secured", adding that the actress "has paid, and continues to pay" her legal bills, reports People.

The lawyers also said the high-profile case became even more expensive as it attracted "significant press attention, with thousands of indexed and syndicated media articles" and involved a lengthy evidence-gathering process, including more than 7,000 documents from Lively and tens of thousands more from Wayfarer Studios and other parties.

Judge Lewis J. Liman has ordered Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios to respond to the request by 13 July. He will then decide whether to award the full amount, reduce it or reject parts of the request.

Neither Baldoni nor his representatives have commented on the latest development.

Lively's request comes less than two weeks after the judge ruled that the actress was entitled to seek legal fees and costs.

The legal dispute began when the actress accused Baldoni and his team of sexual harassment and retaliation on the set of their 2024 film It Ends With Us.

The parties reached a settlement in her legal case in May, just weeks before it was due to go to trial.