Taylor Swift is the latest victim of the Lively-Baldoni feud. Newly unsealed court filings include private texts between Lively and her longtime friend Taylor Swift.
The texts are connected to Lively suing co-star and director Justin Baldoni over allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. Keep reading to learn more about the texts here.
Taylor Swift and Blake Lively’s Texts
Several text messages were brought up in the most recent unsealed filings.
The first exhibit is from December, where Swift appeared to send a screenshot of People magazine’s report from Baldoni about “trauma” from a past relationship.
Swift placed the message “I think this b—- knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin.”
Another instance brought up in texts was when Lively asked Swift to look over the script she had revised for the adaptation of It Ends With Us. Swift promptly texted back, “I’ll do anything for you !!”
Lively later thanked Swift for the lookthrough, even commenting she relayed the whole situation to her husband, Ryan Reynolds. “You were so epically heroic today,” Lively texted, according to the filings. “I recapped every moment to Ryan. I kept remembering stuff—You making s–t up about me and lenses. And referring to yourself as my doll. This clown falling for all of it. But also resisting it.” She finished the text with, “You are the worlds absolute greatest friend ever.”
However, Lively later noted that she didn’t force Swift to come over and look at the script, saying, “You don’t have to read [it].” It was rather a chance opportunity, as Swift was heading to Lively’s apartment at the same time Baldoni was already there.
Another text in the exchange described Baldoni as “this doofus director of my movie” who “thinks he’s a writer now.”
Lively’s Lawyers Speak Up
After the texts were released, Lively’s lawyers responded. While they did not deny the language used in the texts, they noted that the texts are missing necessary context.
Instead, they are being plucked out and used to reframe the narrative in a new way. In more complete sets of the messages, it’s shown that Lively didn’t want Swift to feel pressured to read or change the script.
Plus, further messages from Lively to Baldoni note “we all benefit” from Lively’s relationship with Reynolds and Swift, and that “[Justin] will too, I can promise [him].”
Swift’s Involvement
While Swift’s name may be in the spotlight now in connection with the Lively-Baldoni case, multiple reports stress she is not a party in the case and does not have any meaningful involvement.
Her name has come up in prior allegations, and her spokesperson has clearly denied her involvement in anything.
“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.”
While Baldoni claims Lively leaned heavily on her relationship with Swift to influence the film’s production, the only clear involvement Swift has in the film is contributing her song “My Tears Ricochet” to the soundtrack. Swift is also listed as a potential witness on a list submitted by Lively’s legal team.
For now, we will just have to wait for the trial to see the true ending of this dispute. It starts on May 18th.