Blake Lively's lawyer allegedly threatened to expose Taylor Swift's private texts

News.com.au

14-05-2025

Justin Baldoni's legal team is accusing Blake Lively's lawyer of threatening to release private texts — seemingly between Lively and Taylor Swift — if the pop superstar did not publicly support the actress in her ongoing legal battle with her co-star.
In court documents obtained by Page Six, the lawyers claim the It Ends With Us actress' lead counsel, Michael Gottlieb of Willkie Farr, allegedly made the demand to Venable, the law firm that represents Swift.
They claim he 'demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released,' per the filing.
Gottlieb emphatically denies these allegations to Page Six, calling them 'categorically false.'
'We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality,' he says on behalf of himself and Lively.
Baldoni and his company Wayfarer Studios' lawyers also claimed in their filing — citing information from an anonymous source 'who is highly likely to have reliable information' — that the Gossip Girl star requested that 'Taylor Swift delete their text messages.'
It's unclear when the alleged demands were made.
They also claim that 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, as they would evidence an attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation,' they further allege.
Page Six has reached out to Swift's rep for comment.
Gottlieb, meanwhile, further insists, 'This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties' lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process.
He concludes, 'We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.'
The bombshell court filing was in response to Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds' motion to squash a subpoena Baldoni's team filed for Swift's attorneys at Venable.
The law firm responded to the subpoena by claiming they had 'nothing to do with the film at issue or any of the claims or defences asserted in the underlying lawsuit.'
'There is no reason for this subpoena other than to distract from the facts of the case and impose undue burden and expense on a non-party,' the Washington, DC-based firm added, per Billboard.
The legal action taken toward Venable comes after Swift herself was subpoenaed last week.
Lawyers for Baldoni — who is countersuing Lively for defamation and extortion after she sued him for sexual harassment and other claims — believes the Shake It Off singer was involved in his former co-star's attempts to assert her control over their film, It Ends With Us.
In his complaint, filed in January and obtained by Page Six, Baldoni, 41, claimed he received a text from Lively, in which she referred to Swift and Reynolds, 48, as 'dragons' who 'protect' her in all of her battles. The message was sent after a meeting they had over script rewrites.
'The message could not have been clearer. 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,' Baldoni's lawyers argued in the lawsuit.
However, Swift's rep shut down claims that the Grammy winner was involved in any way with the movie.
'Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was travelling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,' the publicist told Page Six.
Lively's rep, meanwhile, called Baldoni a 'bully' for subpoenaing Swift, telling Page Six that their team 'continue[s] to turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids.'