Blake Lively demanded Taylor Swift delete their texts as Justin Baldoni legal fallout escalates: lawyers
Talk about a blank space.
Blake Lively allegedly asked Taylor Swift to 'delete their text messages' amid her legal war with Justin Baldoni, according to a bombshell new filing.
Lawyers representing the actor and his company, Wayfarer Studios, claimed to have learned of the supposed request from an anonymous source 'who is highly likely to have reliable information.'
The court documents, obtained by Page Six on Wednesday, did not specify when Lively allegedly made the demand.
Baldoni's attorneys also claimed the 'Gossip Girl' alum's lead counsel, Michael Gottlieb, had asked the pop superstar's law firm, Venable, to 'release a statement of support.'
According to the filing, the request intimated that 'if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released.'
Baldoni's legal team claimed a rep for Swift, 35, 'addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication transmitted to Mr. Gottlieb.'
'It is those communications that the Wayfarer parties seek to obtain by way of subpoena,' they continued, referencing Venable being summoned last month and subsequently fighting it.
'The [communications] would evidence an attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation,' the director's lawyers alleged.
Gottlieb, however, called the claims 'categorically false' and 'completely untethered from reality' in a statement to Page Six 'unequivocally' denying them.
The judge ruled later Baldoni's team's claims are inadmissible in court.
'The sole purpose of the letter is to 'promote public scandal' by advancing inflammatory accusations, on information and belief, against Lively and her counsel,' Judge Lewis Leman wrote Thursday in a court document obtained by Page Six.
Page Six has reached out to Swift's rep for comment.
The Grammy winner has been close friends with Lively, 37, since 2015 — and first got dragged into the actress' legal battle earlier this year.
The headline-making lawsuit spree kicked off in December 2024 when the actress accused her 'It Ends With Us' co-star of sexual harassment, infliction of emotional distress and more.
Baldoni, 41, countersued Lively for defamation and extortion the following month, name-dropping Swift in his filing.
The 'Jane the Virgin' alum claimed the 'A Simple Favor' star had referred to the 'Cruel Summer' singer and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as 'dragons' who 'protect' her in creative battles amid discussions over her script re-writes.
'The message could not have been clearer,' his lawyers claimed. 'Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively's 'dragons,' two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him.'
When news broke last week of Swift being subpoenaed as a witness, her publicist insisted to Page Six that the songwriter 'was not involved' in the film.
Swift's rep added that the Eras performer instead had been 'traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history.'
Swift has yet to address the ongoing scandal publicly, but we hear she and Lively are 'ready to move forward' in their friendship despite the hitmaker initially feeling 'used.'
As for Lively, she subtly spoke to her legal battle in a recent 'Late Night with Seth Meyers' appearance.
'I have had a pretty intense year,' she said on May 1. 'This year has been full of the highest highs and lowest lows of my life.'
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