Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal battle intensifies as Taylor Swift enters the fray
The ongoing legal conflict between
Blake Lively
and
Justin Baldoni
, involved with '
It Ends With Us
', continues to escalate, with recent developments drawing
Taylor Swift
into the controversy.
According to US Weekly, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman alleges that Lively urged Swift to remove personal messages and hindered her compliance with a subpoena. Court documents suggest that Lively's counsel allegedly attempted to pressure Swift into publicly backing Lively, with threats to release private communications if she declined.
"These actions reflect an attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation," Freedman claimed. The court filing, however, lacked concrete evidence to support these assertions.
Recent developments show Lively's legal representatives requesting the removal of Swift-related claims from court records. US Weekly reports that Lively's team, in a recent motion, dismissed Baldoni's legal team's allegations as unfounded and unsupported.
"This is categorically false," Lively's lawyer Mike Gottlieb stated. "We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality."
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"It should be unnecessary to respond to anonymously sourced, baseless allegations recklessly levelled without any supporting evidence," states the filing. "It is worth stating for the record, however, that each of the allegations in the Freedman Letter is unequivocally and demonstrably false."
Gottlieb additionally accused Baldoni's representatives of improper conduct and announced intentions to pursue sanctions.
The recent subpoena issued to Swift aims to determine if she supported Lively during the production disagreement.
Swift has maintained silence regarding the case and has not publicly supported Lively.
The dispute originates from legal proceedings between Lively and Baldoni concerning their work on the 2024 film It Ends With Us. Lively, who acted in and executive produced the film, initiated legal action against Baldoni, citing sexual harassment, creation of a hostile workplace, and attempts to harm her professional standing.
Baldoni has rejected these claims and filed a countersuit seeking £400 million for defamation against both Lively and her spouse, actor
Ryan Reynolds
.
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