Blake Lively raised eyebrows on Monday's Met Gala red carpet after she appeared to snap at the helpers assisting in lugging around her dress's massive train.

The 38-year-old actress – who had settled her legal battle with Justin Baldoni just hours earlier – made a splash on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art but her dress featured layers of fabric dragging behind her that required a whole team of assistants to carry.

In video from the event, Lively could be seen stopping her ascent up the Met's steps to boss around the helpers lifting up her dress. One of the helpers happened to be her cousin William McAlpin, she shared with fans on her Insta Stories.

It appeared to be a rare diva moment from the Hollywood icon who usually displays a sunny demeanor. 

One viewer at home hilariously highlighted the moment and joked, 'No one has ever looked more like they were about to CC HR on the red carpet…' than Lively in an Instagram clip of the livestream.

They wrote over the clip: 'The dress said couture. The energy said "per my last email."'

The Daily Mail has reached out to Lively's representatives for comment. 

Although several commenters joked about Lively's demeanor, others rose to her defense and said her 'bossiness' wasn't anything to blink at.

'It looks to me like she’s instructing the people who are hired to assist celebrities on the carpet how to help or not help with her dress,' one person wrote. 'Not mean or bossy just delegating like a boss.'

After Lively told the attendants how to fix her train, she smiled at them and thanked them for taking care of her. 

Lively was dressed in a show-stopping archival Atelier Versace gown from the brand’s Spring 2006 collection. 

Video of Lively climbing the steps shows her four helpers trying to unfurl her train as she begins to walk up.

But as one of the men helping her starts to lift up the skirt, she suddenly turns over her shoulder and puts her hand out toward the skirt.

She seems to instruct him to pull the skirt away from her and to let it drag on the floor, as he steps back and places the fabric back down after the tense encounter. 

As she continues walking, a single helper remains at her side while the other three fall back.

However, as he fidgets with her dress and tries to give her an arm to hold on to for balance, Lively turns back to him and seems to wave him away, at which point he departs as well to leave her to pose for photographers by herself. 

Her return to the red carpet came just hours after she settled her legal battle with her former It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni - in an agreement in which no money changed hands, the Daily Mail has learned. 

Baldoni had denied Lively's initial claims that he had sexually harassed her, and a judge later struck down 10 of her 13 claims, including the harassment allegations.

However, her claims of retaliation from Baldoni's production studio Wayfarer and the film's production company, aiding and abetting in retaliation — which was directed at a PR firm Baldoni hired — and breach of contract against the production company all survived, allowing the lawsuit to continue.

But just hours before she was set to arrive at the Met Gala, the Daily Mail reported that Lively had finally reached a settlement with Wayfarer Studios, as well as Baldoni's PR agency, over claims of retaliation and breach of contract relating to their 2024 movie It Ends With Us.  

In a joint statement released on Monday, the pair said the film remained a 'source of pride' to all who worked to bring it to life and emphasized its mission to raise awareness for domestic violence survivors. 

'We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms Lively deserved to be heard. We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments,' they added. 

The statement did not include an apology from either party, who have been locked in a messy court battle since December 2024, when Lively first launched her multi-million-dollar suit.

Instead, Baldoni and Lively's teams said it was their 'sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.'

Wayfarer, It Ends With Us Movie LLC, and The Agency Group (TAG PR) are said to be ecstatic at the way in which this matter was resolved.

Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, has supported his wife in recent months throughout her lawsuit, but he was notably missing from her side on Monday evening.

The theme of this year's Met Gala – which falls on the first Monday in May every year and is widely considered the Super Bowl of celebrity red carpets – is 'Costume Art,' while the dress code is 'Fashion Is Art.' 

The dress code calls on the A-list attendees to explore how designers use the human body as a blank canvas. 

Leading the charge is a powerhouse trio of co-chairs, with Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams joining forces with Vogue's global editorial director Anna Wintour to oversee fashion's biggest night. 

It's the first time tennis superstar Williams has co-chaired the gala. Kidman previously co-chaired the star-studded event in 2003 as well as 2005, and Beyonce was an honorary chair in 2013.

The New York City museum will pair historical and contemporary garments from the Costume Institute for the exhibition, which will be loosely divided into three categories, including the classical and the nude body, aging and pregnant bodies, and the anatomical body. 

The exhibit - set to unveil the Met's sprawling new Conde M Nast Galleries - has been made possible by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez, who are the lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs. 

'The title "Costume Art" refers to the history of the costume institute,' Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute's curator, said at a press conference.

Bolton, who selects the theme, said fashion has 'the status of art because of, and not in spite of, its relation to the body.'

French luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent is also sponsoring the exhibit.

The 2026 Met Gala will also have a host committee that includes committee co-chairs Anthony Vaccarello and Zoe Kravitz, along with members Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Angela Bassett, Gwendoline Christie, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor and more. 

Costume Art will run from May 10, 2026 through January 10, 2027, following the Met Gala on May 4.

The Met Gala is a huge money-maker for the museum, and provides the Costume Institute with its main source of funding. 

The 2026 Met Gala marks a major moment because it's the first one since Wintour technically stepped back from one of her famed roles at Vogue. 

In June 2025, Wintour announced she was stepping down as the editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.

The global director for Vogue and global chief content officer at Conde Nast hired Chloe Malle as the new head of editorial content at Vogue.

Wintour has famously been incredibly hands-on with the Met Gala over the years, and is credited with making it the splashy A-list affair it has become, beloved by celebrities like Rihanna, the Kardashians, Blake Lively, Zendaya and more.

Last year, many stars did not attend the Met Gala, and some people thought it was to avoid making a faux pas because of the theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which was centered around the political and aesthetic constructs of Black dandyism.