Josh Duhamel has his own indicator that spring has finally sprung. 

In an Instagram reel shared on Thursday, April 25, the Transformers star, 52, takes to a lake near his Isolated Minnesota hideaway to show off the ice breaking apart from his canoe. “The last of the ice is just coming off the lake, which means – for anyone who loves lake life like I love lake life – summer is just around the corner.”  

In a backward baseball cap and reflective visor glasses, Duhamel paddles through the water. “Let’s take a tour of the last remaining ice of 2025,” he says before he picks up a frozen chunk and adds, “You can literally see the last little bit, you can almost hear it,” and turns the camera towards the blue water with light waves show where the ice is breaking away .

The lake is outside of Duhamel’s secluded Midwest home, which he calls his “doomsday cabin,” about an hour and a half away from Fargo, N.D.

“We’re about 40 minutes from civilization,” he said in a recent interview with Country Living. “It’s an exhale whenever we get here.” 

The All My Children alum bought the initial land 15 years ago, and slowly purchased additional parcels now outfitted with a rustic cabin, a hunting shack, and a “cute little red cabin with a stone chimney that sits right on the water,” he told the outlet.  

Duhamel, who’s been married to Audra Mari Duhamel, 31, since 2022, said their first 12 years on the land were similar to homesteading, as the couple didn’t have plumbing on the property yet.

“We were using outhouses and washing dishes in the lake,” the actor recalled. “I feel so connected to it — I didn’t just buy the place, I shaped this place. While we’ve made a lot of improvements, you still feel like you’re roughing it, and I love that.”

The proud dad also said he loves experiencing Minnesota life from his children’s perspective. He shares Axl Jack, 11, with his ex-wife Fergie, and 15-month-old Shepherd with Audra Mari.

“I love seeing it through my kids’ eyes now,” he told PEOPLE in an exclusive April interview. “My 11-year-old Axl is really starting to love it. He’s got some buddies who are out there. I’m able to teach him some of the things that I’ve learned, and I didn’t know much when I got the place, so it’s been good.”

“I’ve become much more handy than I was before I started, and you have to be just out of necessity. You have to be able to fix stuff,” he continues. “And so all that, all around, it’s been great. Making a lot of great memories out there.”

Blake Lively subtly referenced her ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni at the Time100 Gala.

“I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” the “It Ends With Us” actress — who was honored on the magazine’s “Most Influential People of 2025” list — began an impassioned speech at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Thursday.

She continued, “What I will speak to, separately, is the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”

Lively, 37, directed the audience’s attention to her mother, Willie Elain McAlpin, who also attended the lavish Hollywood event, describing her as an “eternal optimist.”

She then revealed her mom was a victim of “the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.”

The “Gossip Girl” alum said McAlpin, 77, concealed “her raw and undeserved shame” throughout her entire life, but she was asked to share her mom’s story because “if we name it, we change it.”

“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born,” Lively further explained.

The “Age of Adeline” star did not go into specifics about what happened to McAlpin but credited another woman for sharing her own story of survival on the radio — which in turn saved her mom’s life.

“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped,” Lively shared, “and because of hearing that woman speak about her experience instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today. She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know.”

The “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” star — who is suing Baldoni for sexual harassment and claims he launched smear campaign against her — added, “Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain.”

Lively also took a moment to thank “every man,” including her “sweet husband,” Ryan Reynolds — who was also present — for being “kind and good when no one is watching.”

She added, “And to all the communities across the gender, age, political, geographical and racial spectrum who fight every day just to be safe, I see you.”

Earlier in her speech, Lively praised her fellow Time100 honoree Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman was covertly drugged and raped by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, on numerous occasions.

Quoting the survivor, the “Another Simple Favor” star — dressed in a glamorous Zuhair Murad gown — said, “It’s not for us to have shame … it’s for them.”

Reps for Baldoni did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment on Lively’s statements.

Lively’s poignant speech comes as she is seeking justice from Baldoni, 41, whom she claims made inappropriate sexual remarks when they worked together on “It Ends With Us,” including referencing his past porn addiction, and made her and multiple other women on set uncomfortable.

The Wayfarer Studios co-founder has denied the allegations and is countersuing Lively, Reynolds and their publicist, Leslie Sloane, for defamation, extortion and other claims in a $400 million lawsuit.

Lively has slammed Baldoni’s lawsuit as being retaliation for her speaking out and asked a judge to throw out his case. The court has not yet made a decision on that request. A trial date was set for March 2026.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.

• Blake Lively attended the TIME100 Gala with her husband, Ryan Reynolds
• At the gala, the actress spoke for six minutes about topics such as womanhood and assault
• “I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” she said, opting to speak about “the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today”

Blake Lively alluded to her legal battle with Justin Baldoni at the TIME100 gala.

The actress, who was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people, spoke for roughly six minutes at the annual event held at Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Thursday, April 24.

During her speech, Lively, 37, said it was “surreal and deeply significant” to be an honoree “in a time where the most valuable currency seems to be anger, it feels like an act of defiance to commune and celebrate all the good that is alive in the world.”

Lively said being called “influential” was “a significant responsibility,” adding, “How we use that matters. Who and what we stand up for, and what we stay silent about, what we monetize versus what we actually live, matters.” 

“I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum,” she said, opting to speak about “the feeling of being a woman who has a voice today.”

Lively said her life was “influenced most” by her mother, Willie Elaine McAlpin, who she said was the “survivor of the worst crime someone can commit against a woman.”

“My mom never got justice from her work acquaintance who attempted to take her life when she was the mother of three young kids years before I was born,” she said.

The honoree said her mom credited a woman whom she heard speaking about a “similar circumstance” on the radio for saving her life.

“The woman painfully and graphically shared how she escaped. And because of hearing that woman speak about her experience instead of shutting down in fear and unfair shame, my mom is alive today. She was saved by a woman whose name she’ll never know,” said Lively.

She referred to womanhood as a “pact that privately we must show others how to survive, literally or spiritually.”

“We don’t let our daughters know, but one day we break their hearts by letting them in on the secret that we kept from them as they pranced around in princess dresses 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,” she said.

Lively referred to the “superpower of female triumph” as a “basic human right,” adding, “Never underestimate a woman’s ability to endure pain.”

She ended her speech by thanking “every man, including my sweet husband [Ryan Reynolds], who are kind and good when no one is watching.”

“And to all the communities across the gender, age, political, geographical, and racial spectrum who fight every day just to be safe, I see you,” she said.

Lively’s “last two years” remark alludes to the ongoing legal battle she has with her It Ends With Us costar and director, Justin Baldoni. Production on the Colleen Hoover adaptation began in May 2023. It was released in August 2024.

In December 2024, Lively sued Baldoni alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. Among others named in the suit were Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Baldoni denied the allegations and countersued Lively, Reynolds, and others such as their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc., for $400 million, alleging civil extortion, defamation and more.

A trial date set has been scheduled for March 2026.