Pop-sensation Taylor Swift will officially be fully embroiled in the messy legal battle of It Ends With Us co-stars, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, after a judge granted Baldoni access to the singer’s personal texts with Lively.
In a major update to the highly publicised Lively vs Baldoni legal battle, which includes allegations of sexual harassment and defamation, US District Judge Lewis Liman ruled that the It Ends With Us director’s legal team can request access to texts between Lively and Swift.
“The requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims,” Liman claimed on Wednesday (local time), per Page Six.
Liman stressed that the communications between the friends (rumoured to be ex-friends amidst this mammoth legal battle) must be about the film and legal proceedings.
Page Six also reported that Lively’s team “attempted to bargain” with Baldoni’s, stating they would hand them access to any documents, but not Swift’s messages, in exchange for “full video footage related to the film and full, unredacted communications” noted in Baldoni’s complaint.
However, it’s reported that Baldoni’s team shut down the agreement.
Liman’s recent ruling — in which he granted access to Swift and Lively’s texts — comes after Baldoni’s legal team withdrew its subpoena against Swift.
According to Page Six, it also comes after Lively asked the court to protect her communications with Swift on Friday, arguing that the texts were “not central” to the case.
Blake Lively’s team responds to Judge Liman’s ruling
Following Wednesday’s decision, a spokesperson from Lively’s camp told US Weekly that despite the ruling, it 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 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,” they told the publication.
“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’ (Lively Amended Complaint, 214(b)).
“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”.
Baldoni’s team has yet to release a statement on Liman’s ruling.
How did Taylor Swift get dragged into Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit?
The reputation singer was first name-dropped in Baldoni’s countersuit against Lively, who accused the actor of sexual harassment and creating a smear campaign against her. While Baldoni denies the allegations against him, the Jane The Virgin actor claimed that Lively used her friendship with Swift to pressure him into changing the script for It Ends With Us.
In the countersuit, Baldoni also referenced an alleged text Lively sent, where she described Swift and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as her dragons.
Earlier this month, Judge Liman dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million ($613 million AUD) countersuit against Lively and Reynolds. He also shut down Baldoni’s $250 million ($383 million AUD) defamation claim against the New York Times, citing that the article was under the “fair report” privilege.
Image source: Getty Images
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