In a big blow to Blake Lively’s legal battle against former co-star Justin Baldoni, a federal judge denied the star’s request to keep some of her text messages with Taylor Swift private.
The momentary legal victory for Baldoni, who starred alongside and directed Lively in It Ends with Us, came after a tense and public multi-month defamation suit that has shocked fans nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled on Wednesday that Baldoni’s requests for some messages between Lively and her longterm friend were permissible.
“Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims,” Liman wrote.
Baldoni and his team will only be able to access text messages pertaining to the 2024 film, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling romance novel.
Lively’s representative condemned the judge’s decision, saying that ”Baldoni’s desire to drag Taylor Swift into this has been constant dating back to August 2024 ... a strategy to influence the ‘TS fanbase.’"
They referred to the film’s production company when adding: “We will continue to call out Baldoni’s relentless efforts to exploit Ms. Swift’s popularity, which from day one has been nothing more than a distraction from the serious sexual harassment and retaliation accusations he and the Wayfarer parties are facing.”
The intense legal battle between Baldoni and Lively began when Lively sued her former co-star, alleging that Baldoni sexually harassed her and started a smear campaign to publicly defame her. Baldoni denied the allegations and later launched a countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times, which initially reported details of the allegations.
His lawsuit, which requested $400 million in damages, was dismissed in court last week.
Swift was caught in the crossfire when Baldoni’s attorney tried to subpoena her as a potential witness for the trial, which is set to take place in March 2026. Swift didn’t have a role in the movie, although one of her songs was featured. She is, however, the godmother of Lively’s daughters.
Rumors of a feud between Lively and Swift have made headlines in recent months. The two have not been spotted together since the legal battle began and Swift has not said anything publicly about the lawsuit.
At the time, a spokesperson for Swift said: “Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”
Although Baldoni’s request to subpoena Swift was dropped, the director and his lawyers may now view her text messages with Lively as the legal battle draws on.
