Taylor Swift hits out over Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni court summons in latest It Ends With Us twist
by Danielle de Wolfe · LBCBy Danielle de Wolfe
Taylor Swift has claimed she is being dragged into a legal dispute between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively as part of an attempt to generate "tabloid clickbait" - in the latest twist in the It Ends With Us saga.
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Lively filed a lawsuit against her former co-star alleging sexual harassment and leading a smear campaign.
Baldoni denies the allegations and has filed a counter-suit against her and her PR team accusing them of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.
The two have been locked in a dispute since the film - an adaption of a Colleen Hoover novel - was released last summer. The case, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al, is set to go to trial in March 2026.
The music megastar is a longtime friend of Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, and is godmother to their children.
The You Belong With Me singer was called to testify in a US court over accusations she influenced Baldoni to agree to script changes made by the Gossip Girl star.
According to Baldoni, he visited Lively’s New York residence in 2023 to talk over the script, where Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds and Swift were also there, acting as her "dragons".
Swift’s representatives said "she was not involved in any casting or creative decision" and "never saw an edit or made any notes on the film".
According to Baldoni, there were tensions over a re-write of the scene, at which he was surprised to find Reynolds and Swift present.
He alleges Lively wrote in a text to him: "If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you'll appreciate that I'm Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for."
Baldoni claims he replied saying: "I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor).
"You really are a talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to do this together."
It is also alleged Swift was involved in casting Isabela Ferrer in the film, who played the younger version of Lively's character, Lily Bloom.
Ferrer said at the film's premiere: "She [Taylor Swift] was a helpful part of the audition, which I found out later when I got it, and that rocked my world."
'Tabloid clickbait'
However, Swift's representatives have now clarified her only connection to the film was giving permission for her song My Tears Ricochet to be included, emphasising she was just one of 20 artists featured on the soundtrack.
They asserted 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, [and] she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film".
According to her team, Swift didn’t watch It Ends With Us until "weeks after its release" because she was "travelling around the globe" on her record-breaking Eras tour at the time.
Her representatives argued that the subpoena was "designed to use Taylor Swift's name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case".