I don’t know about you but the idea of my private texts being used against me because of work drama feels like no one wins. But that’s what is happening in the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni case.
During the release of It Ends With Us, fans picked up on something going on with Baldoni and Lively. Despite being the leads of the film and creative partners in the film, the two were not doing press together. Baldoni didn’t even get to walk the carpet with the rest of the cast and people noticed that everyone from the film unfollowed him.
It boiled over into both Baldoni and Lively filing lawsuits against each other and since it started, Baldoni has continually released audio he sent Lively and other bits of “evidence” into the case that, in my opinion, makes him seem worse. He sent a voice memo at 2 in the morning and we’re supposed to think that’s normal?
Now, Lively’s texts with singer Taylor Swift are being used in Baldoni’s lawsuit case. Originally, it was granted through a protective order that Swift’s texts with Lively would remain out of the lawsuit but instead Judge Lewis J. Liman decided otherwise.
In a ruling obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Liman wrote that “Lively herself has identified Swift as someone likely to have knowledge about complaints or discussions regarding the working environment on the set of It Ends With Us.” Liman went on to say that Baldoni’s requests for Lively’s texts with Swift “are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims.”
Look, I am someone who often jokes about things in texts that would probably have people asking if I was doing okay. So the fact that Baldoni’s team is basically using these texts to try to prove if the alleged harassment Lively faced is true feels incredibly icky to me.
Blake Lively’s team responded to the ruling
In a statement to EW, a spokesperson for Lively said, “The Court outright denied the Wayfarer Parties’ motion to compel documents from Ms. Lively, who has produced far more documents in this case than the Wayfarer Parties combined. Further, the Court’s protective order ruling rests on the Wayfarer Parties’ admission that they received nothing from Taylor Swift, which is exactly the opposite of what their ‘insider’ claimed two weeks ago.”
The statement went on to say, “As for the rest, Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties demanded access to Taylor Swift’s private communications — despite having already subpoenaed and then withdrawn that subpoena. Baldoni’s desire to drag Taylor Swift into this has been constant dating back to August 2024, when the crisis PR firm led by Melissa Nathan included her in their ‘Scenario Planning’ document (Lively Amended Complaint, Exhibit D), referred to her as a bully, and called for a strategy to influence the ‘TS fanbase’… We will continue to call out Baldoni’s relentless efforts to exploit Ms Swift’s popularity, which from day one has been nothing more than a distraction from the serious sexual harassment and retaliation accusations he and the Wayfarer parties are facing.”
The entire situation doesn’t make me feel great and it is, as Lively’s spokesperson said, a ploy to try and bring Swift into this because it would bring more attention to the case. We’ll have to see what happens but it doesn’t feel great that this is happening.
(featured image: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
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