A federal judge denied Blake Lively’s request to keep some of her private text messages with Taylor Swift from Justin Baldoni, a major legal victory for the embattled “It Ends with Us” actor and director.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman deemed in a court filing Wednesday that Baldoni’s requests for some messages between Lively and Swift were permissible.
Baldoni’s legal team will have access to text messages only about “It Ends with Us,” the judge ruled. Lively and Baldoni starred in the 2024 film, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling romance novel “It Ends with Us,” which is at the center of their ongoing legal battle.
“Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, 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,” the judge wrote.
A representative for Lively denounced the decision.
“Baldoni’s desire to drag Taylor Swift into this has been constant dating back to August 2024 … a strategy to influence the ‘TS fanbase,’” the spokesperson said.
“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 spokesperson added, referring to the film’s production company.
Representatives for Swift and Baldoni did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lively sued Baldoni and others associated with the film last year, alleging that he sexually harassed her and launched a public relations smear campaign to ruin her reputation. Baldoni has denied the allegations.
Days later, Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios countersued Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times — which reported details of the allegations — alleging defamation. That suit, which requested damages of $400 million, was dismissed last week.
Swift, who is the godmother of one of Lively’s children and has frequently been seen in public with her, was dragged into the suit last month.
Baldoni’s attorney tried to subpoena her as a potential witness in the March 2026 trial. Swift’s song “My Tears Ricochet” was featured in the film’s soundtrack, but she did not have a role in the production of the movie.
“Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case,” a spokesperson for Swift said at the time.
