Here’s Where Blake & Taylor Stand Amid The It Ends With Us Lawsuit

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us feud is far from over — even if certain players involved wish that it was. On March 19, a source told Us Weekly that Taylor Swift is not “happy” about being dragged into the lawsuit after text messages connecting the Eras Tour singer to the case were leaked. And things have only gotten messier since then.

In April, Swift and her law firm, Venable, were subpoenaed in the case. Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, also alleged that an anonymous source “close to Swift” claimed that Lively attempted to threaten the singer. Per People, in a May 15 affidavit, he wrote that Lively’s legal team “requested, on Ms. Lively's behalf, that Taylor Swift make a social media statement in support of Ms. Lively given her absence from the Super Bowl that year, and stated that if Ms. Swift failed to do so, Ms. Lively would release '10 years' of private texts with Ms. Swift.”

While Lively’s lawyer has called these claims “bogus” and the judge presiding over the case ruled them “irrelevant,” the situation has definitely called into question the current status of Lively and Swift’s friendship. Swift herself has stayed quiet on the matter though her rep has criticized the subpoena, telling CNN it was a tactic “to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait.”

There are mixed reports about where Swift and Lively stand post-subpoena. “Their friendship has halted,” a source told People on May 15. “Taylor wants no part in this drama.” Another insider said the longtime friends have been “taking some space,” but are “not no longer friends.”

Another member of Swift’s squad, Gigi Hadid, has also reportedly taken a stand amid the feud. “Gigi feels terrible that her close friend is being pulled into the legal drama,” an insider told People. Another source said, “Gigi is closer to Taylor and has definitely taken her side in this whole drama. Gigi doesn't want to get involved in this whole ordeal, but she is closer to Taylor and has distanced herself from Blake although she still considers her a friend.”

Before the subpoena was filed in April, Swift and Lively’s friendship was reportedly on the mend. At the time, an insider told Page Six that the longtime friends put their issues behind them after Lively apologized. “It was important to Blake to be on good terms again with Taylor. It was never her intention to hurt Taylor or cause any harm to their friendship,” the source said.

“Blake missed their friendship, and she hopes they can put this whole thing behind them,” they added at the time. “[Taylor] has no hard feelings and is ready to move forward.”

However, the affidavit “fractured” the “fragile peace” between them, People’s source said.

Before the legal proceedings were fully underway, a source denied any rumors of tension between Swift and Lively. “There’s no truth that this has hurt their relationship,” a source told Us in January. “They are still close friends.” But that March, another Us Weekly insider claimed that Swift, who is the godmother to Lively’s children, “wasn’t happy with being brought into the legal mess.”

Even before she was subpoenaed, Swift’s name was brought up repeatedly in relation to the lawsuit. In Lively’s original complaint, which was published in the New York Times in December 2024, she accused Baldoni of launching a smear campaign against her. In those docs, alleged texts between Baldoni and his team of crisis PR experts mention Swift. “Our team can also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people in BL’s circle like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to ‘bully’ into getting what they want,” one text read.

Baldoni’s January lawsuit against Lively also seemingly referenced Swift. His suit claimed that Lively enlisted the help of her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her “megacelebrity friend” to pressure Baldoni into using Lively’s script for the film’s rooftop scene. The friend in question is likely Swift. (In one screenshot of texts between Lively and Baldoni, the name of this mysterious friend is not redacted — and Baldoni refers to this person as “Taylor.”)

Before subpoenaing the star, Baldoni’s lawyer discussed Swift’s role in the case. “I don’t know that we’re going to depose Taylor Swift or not,” Freedman said on a Feb. 5 episode of TMZ’s Two Angry Men podcast. “I think that that’s going to be probably a game time decision. I don’t know that that decision’s been made.”

“Anyone that reasonably has information that can provide evidence in this case is going to be deposed,” he added at the time. “I mean, for sure.”