Taylor Swift subpoenaed in Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni legal battle
Taylor Swift could potentially be taking the stand in the legal battle between It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Swift, who is close friends with Lively, had been mentioned in connection with the ongoing legal case between the co-stars when text exchanges were revealed that included her name in Baldoni's US$400-million defamation countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds in January.
On May 9, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman issued a subpoena to Swift in the lawsuit involving the 2024 film It Ends With Us.
A spokesperson for Swift said the attempt to subpoena the pop star as a witness in the case is 'designed' to use Swift's 'name to draw public interest.'
Swift's team told NBC News she wouldn't have any information relevant to the legal dispute and should not be involved in the case.
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'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 traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,' her spokesperson said on May 9.
Swift's team said her only involvement in the film was licensing a song, which was My Tears Ricochet.
'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,' the spokesperson said.
Lively's legal team released a statement after news of Swift's potential involvement in the case spread. Her team told CNN that Baldoni and his legal team 'continue to turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids.'
'This is a very serious legal matter, not Barnum & Bailey's Circus,' the spokesperson said. 'The defendants continue to publicly intimidate, bully, shame and attack women's rights and reputations.'
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Baldoni sued his co-star Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, for defamation in January. That lawsuit came the same day that Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel, alleging the paper worked with Lively to smear him.
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In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie as well as a subsequent effort to 'destroy' her reputation in a legal complaint.
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In the complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a 'multi-tiered plan' to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and Reynolds addressed 'repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour' by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.
Since the legal battle began, Baldoni's legal team has made text messages from Lively and Reynolds public on a website, titled The Lawsuit Info, created to help defend him.
On the website, published in early February, Baldoni, 41, also shared an amended complaint in his case against Lively, Reynolds, Lively's PR firm and the New York Times, as well as a 168-page document, called 'Timeline of relevant events,' related to the case and the production of the film.
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The timeline includes emails and text messages that were allegedly sent leading up to and during the movie's filming.
Text messages between Lively and Baldoni, where she seemingly alludes to Swift as 'one of her dragons,' were released in February. Swift and Lively have been very close friends since 2015 and the pop star is the godmother of Lively's children.
In the text messages between the pair, Baldoni goes into detail about the rooftop scene in the movie that Lively had allegedly reworked. His lawyers claim that the actor 'felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn't needed Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him.'
According to the suit, Lively invited Baldoni to her penthouse in New York, where Reynolds and a 'megacelebrity friend' both praised Lively's version of the rooftop scene.
'Also was working on rooftop scene today, I really love what you did. It really does help a lot,' Baldoni wrote in the text message. 'Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor). You really are a talent across the board. Really excited nd [sic] grateful to do this together.'
In a text from Lively, according to the suit, she calls Reynolds and another person, whose name is redacted, 'absolute titans as writers and storytellers outside of their primary gig.'
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'They also know I'm not always as good at making sure I'm seen and utilized for fear of threatening egos, or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don't give a sh-t about that. And because of that, everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I have to stop worrying about people liking me,' Lively allegedly wrote.
Lively goes on to compare herself to Khaleesi, a Game of Thrones character played by Emilia Clarke.
'If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you'll appreciate that I'm Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you,' Lively wrote.
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Baldoni and Lively's legal trial is set for March 2026 in New York City.
— With files from The Associated Press
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