Among a barrage of emails, texts and depositions that were unsealed in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal case is an exchange that allegedly shows Taylor Swift siding with Lively against the “It Ends With Us” director.
Within the hundreds of exhibits that were unsealed Jan. 20, is an alleged December 2024 text exchange between Lively and Swift in a filing that was obtained by USA TODAY. Though the last name for Swift’s contact is redacted, Lively’s legal team identified the singer by name in a court filing addressing the texts in response to the contents of Baldoni’s legal team’s November motion for summary judgment.
In the exhibit, previously filed by Baldoni’s team, on Dec. 5, 2024, Swift appeared to send Lively a screenshot of People magazine’s reporting on Baldoni speaking out on “trauma” from a prior relationship, along with the message: “I think this b—- knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin.”
On Dec. 21, The New York Times reported Lively was the victim of a retaliatory smear campaign after she complained of sexual harassment by Baldoni and producer Jamey Heath. That day, her formal complaint to California’s Civil Rights Department also became public.
Lively seems to respond, “[It] rings different when he doesn’t end the story by saying ‘Did I always listen when they said no? No.’ Like he did with me. But that must not [have] tested well in the focus group.”
The conversation – taking place in the days leading up to Swift’s final Eras Tour show – appeared to start with Lively checking in with Swift, asking “is everything OK?” as she “felt like a bad friend lately.” Swift seems to respond that Lively was “not wrong” to feel things were off. “I feel distanced from you even more than we are geographically,” Swift’s alleged message says, because Lively’s recent communications “felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Just come back please 🙏,” Swift’s message said.
In a separate exchange weeks later, Swift sends a link to a report of Baldoni being dropped by his agency and tells Lively, “You won. You did it. And you … helped so many people who won’t have to go through this again.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Swift’s team for comment.
Also among the unsealed exhibits are depositions from costars Jenny Slate and Isabela Ferrer, as well as communications from “It Ends With Us” author Colleen Hoover.
“As we head to trial, only Ms. Lively’s claims against the defendants remain,” Lively’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley said in a Jan. 20 statement. “The newly unsealed evidence contains never-before seen testimony, messages, and evidence from numerous eyewitnesses backing the claims in Ms. Lively’s lawsuit. The evidence includes Ms. Lively’s own testimony describing the harassment she faced, as well as new evidence from numerous women describing their own disturbing experiences.
“The newly unsealed evidence shows the concerns of Ms. Lively and others were documented in real-time as early as Spring 2023, and Wayfarer understood them as ‘sexual harassment’ concerns. The evidence also documents how Wayfarer refused to investigate, but instead attempted to ‘bury’ Ms. Lively and others who spoke up through retaliation.”
Taylor Swift’s team previously distanced her from Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni’s legal drama
In a previous statement to USA TODAY regarding the possibility of Swift being subpoenaed in the case, the singer’s spokesperson 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.”
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie,” the statement continued. “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.”
In October, the judge entered final judgment in the $400 million countersuit case from Baldoni, Heath, Wayfarer Studios, cofounder Steve Sarowitz, crisis PR specialist Melissa Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel, effectively terminating their Jan. 16 legal action against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and The New York Times. The parties have the right to appeal.
The trial, which has been postponed, is due to begin on May 18.
Contributing: Bryan West, USA TODAY Network
