Taylor Swift and a slew of other celebrities have been inadvertently roped into Blake Lively’s ongoing legal battle against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, as a judge unsealed a trove of the actress’ communications with her fellow famous friends this week.
It’s the latest development in the high-profile lawsuit, which saw Lively level explosive claims of sexual harassment and an unsafe work environment against Baldoni in December 2024, following the disastrous press tour of the domestic violence awareness film. Baldoni has denied the claims.
The newly unsealed text messages and emails obtained by Rolling Stone show how Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds leaned on the support of their industry friends Jenny Slate, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour, among several others as they tried to navigate the increasingly strained relationship between Lively and Baldoni, who also served as the film’s director.
In the lead-up to the movie’s August 2024 release and the following media storm, Lively appeared to frequently vent to her close friend Swift amid the escalating tension with Baldoni. In messages dated April 2023 and reviewed by Rolling Stone, Lively asked the singer-songwriter to vouch on her behalf to Baldoni about Lively’s scriptwriting pass for the domestic violence movie’s pivotal rooftop scene. (Rolling Stone has reached out to a representative for Swift for further comment.)
“If you get here w[hen] this doofus director of my movie is still here (I’ll be ushering him out, but hope he’s still here) can you do me a huge favor. I need help with him,” Lively allegedly asked Swift. “Can you tell him you’re excited for the movie. That you read the book but what you’re freaking out over is the pages I sent you. What a magnetic scene that is. Or whatever descriptives you’re comfortable [with] … He’s a clown and thinks he’s a writer now and got this rewrite and told me he appreciates my passion. Thats. It. So having the greatest living story teller unknowingly echo to him how much you love what we’re doing (giving him credit as if he wrote them with me) will go such a long way.”
“I’ll do anything for you!!,” Swift allegedly responded.
Later that evening, according to court documents, Lively thanked Swift for being “epically heroic” and gushed that she was “the world’s absolute greatest friend ever.”
Swift allegedly responded in all caps, “I won the lottery. You are the coolest person in the world and you like me!!”
The friends’ relationship took an awkward turn by December 2024, when Swift was at the close of her massive worldwide Eras Tour. Lively checked in with her, acknowledging that she felt like she’d been a “bad friend” over “talk[ing] about my own shit for months.”
Responding two hours later, Swift allegedly wrote, “no you’re not wrong, but it’s also not a big deal … Yes there has been a lot of the Justin stuff but … it’s felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees.”
“I just miss my funny, dark normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself, not like, a plural unit,” Swift added, according to court documents.
Lively also spoke with her movie co-star Jenny Slate about tensions on set, and apparently filled in Vogue’s Anna Wintour about the general happenings, according to the unsealed messages. “Blake that was a very brave and moving film and the rooftop scene is brilliant,” Wintour allegedly wrote to Lively in August 2024. “Knowing how hard a situation it was for you made me especially proud of you.” (A rep for Wintour did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.)
Additional messages show that Lively reached out separately to Hollywood veterans Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for their thoughts on Lively’s cut of the film.
“I’m writing with a zero pressure ask,” Lively wrote to Affleck. I’ve just come out the other side (well almost) of the most upsetting experience I’ve ever had on a movie … If your wife or kids are around, I’d love their opinion also (fyi it does cover domestic violence so no one is caught off guard). I’m such a fan of Jennifer’s, I’ve told her as much every time I’ve met her, and it would be an honor to have her take.”
In a group message with Reynolds, Damon and his wife dated May 2024, Lively also allegedly asked for the couple’s opinion on her edit. “This movie nearly killed me,” Lively explained. “The director/costar/producer/financier/head of the studio (yes all one person) had zero experience, but the good news is he also has no taste, and an enormous ego, but only because he’s in a cult and believes he’s our century’s prophet. I wish even one of these things was hyperbole.”
“We’ll give you any help we can,” Damon allegedly responded. “And if this experience hasn’t totally destroyed your soul, Blake, you should come direct your next movie at Artists Equity. We’re kind of like a cult but a really nice one.” (A rep for Damon and Affleck did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s requests for comment.)
A hearing and settlement conference is scheduled for Thursday. If no agreement can be reached, a jury trial is scheduled for May 18.
