Blake Lively Makes ‘TIME’ Magazine’s 100 Most Influential List amid Legal Woes

Blake Lively has been named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

The Another Simple Favor actress, 37, is part of a batch that also includes big names like Scarlett Johansson, Joe Rogan and Donald Trump for the year 2025.

Lively’s inclusion on the TIME100 comes as she is in the middle of a contentious legal battle with her It Ends With Us director/costar Justin Baldoni, which began when she sued him late last year.

In a statement to TIME, civil-rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill said, “I don’t know the Blake Lively of the red carpet. Or the Met Gala. I never watched Gossip Girl. The Blake Lively I know is a philanthropist and a student of our country’s most intractable problems.”

Ifill went on to say that the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, “reached out in 2019 to make a contribution to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.”

“I had been getting a few of these calls, as our work fighting against voter suppression and police brutality was receiving national attention,” she continued. “I’m always curious about the kind of research famous people do before they make that cold call to offer their support. The ones I have remained in relationship with are those who, like Blake, really did their homework.”

Ifill wrote that she “admired immediately” Lively’s “curiosity, and her sincere work to understand the conditions that shape this country.”

“I remember an early conversation in which she expressed frustration that so much of our nation’s history was not part of the instruction she had received as a student,” she went on. “Her commitment to filling those gaps — and becoming the most fully informed and prepared citizen—is what I appreciate most about her.”

Ifill went on to refer to Lively as “a serious person” and a risk taker,” adding, “And she’s committed to moving this country forward.”

“For her children. And for mine,” the attorney concluded.

Of the 2025 TIME100 list, TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs writes in his letter to readers, “TIME‘s founders knew that focusing on the individuals who are transforming the world is the best way to help readers understand it.”

“That belief animates much of what we do at TIME … What does the 2025 TIME100 tell us about the forces shaping our lives?” he continued. “It includes six members of the Trump Administration … 16 corporate CEOs, a record and a sign of the emergence of a class of business leaders who are filling a leadership void … nine leaders who are fighting for justice, equality, and democracy, at a moment when the rights of so many are at stake.”

Jacobs concluded, “Members of the list come from 32 countries … Whatever change comes, we think the 2025 TIME100 will lead it.”