TheBlake Lively and Justin Baldoni dramais the he-said-she-said case heard around Hollywood — and in May,superstar Taylor Swift was officially dragged into the mess, with a subpoena for the artist to appear in court. Lively and Baldoni are entangled in a legal battle over what may or may not have happened on the set of theirColleen Hoover adaptationIt Ends With Us,with Lively accusing her director and co-star on the film of sexual harassment anda subsequent retaliatory campaign against her, and Baldoni denying all allegations and saying the lawsuit is an attempt to damage his reputation. Swift, who is a longtime friend of Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and is alsogodmother to their four children, was pulled into the battle due to the release of text messages that suggested theGossip Girlalum wanted to use Swift's influence to sway decisions on set. In one exchange,Lively likened herself toGame of Thronescharacter Khaleesiand called Swift — as well as Reynolds — one of her "dragons." Swift's reps, however, say that the singer's only involvement in the film was allowing her song "My Tears Ricochet" to be used in it. "Taylor 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, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even seeIt Ends With Usuntil weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history," her reps said in a statement to the press, stating 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." It's all very messy — and with the case headed to court in March 2026, there is almost certainly going to be more that will unfold over the next 10 months. But how didIt Ends With Usgo from a highly anticipated adaptation of a popular BookTok novel to the center of one of the entertainment industry's biggest rifts to date? Here's what to know. Lively and Baldoni starred together in 2024'sIt Ends With Us,based on Hoover's 2016 romance novel about a woman breaking out of the cycle of domestic violence. Baldoni, who initially got the rights to the book through his production company, Wayfarer Studios, also directed the film, while Lively was also an executive producer on the project. When the movie came out in August 2024, fans noticed that Lively and Baldoni — who played a couple in the film — did not do interviews together or pose for photos at the movie's premiere, fueling speculation that there was a rift between the two. During the film's press tour,Lively faced backlashfor downplaying the story's central theme of domestic violence, instead emphasizing female empowerment and the film's floral aesthetic and even weaving inpromotion for her newly launched hair care line. Social media buzz turned critical against the star as old interviews resurfaced that painted the actress as catty or rude. Meanwhile, Baldoni — whose brand and podcastMan Enoughiscentered on untangling himself from toxic masculinity— received praise for including domestic violence as part of the larger conversation about the film. Lively had stayed quiet about her time on theIt Ends With Usset and work with Baldoni — until December 2024, when she filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. In her complaint, she claimed Baldoni engaged in sexual harassment and created a hostile work environment during the film's production. Her complaint coincided with a New York Times exposé titled "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine," which detailed Lively's allegations — along withher legal complaint— and highlighted the alleged retaliatory actions by Baldoni's team. That included Baldoni encouraging publicists to drum up a smear campaign against the star, which Lively said was the driving force behind the sudden onslaught of negative social media comments about her. Lively was initially met with some public support following the New York Times piece —people like herSisterhood of the Traveling Pantscostarsand herAnother Simple Favordirector Paul Feigspoke out in her favor — but in the weeks after the article, social media sentiment toward the actress remained negative. On Dec. 31, 2024,Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times. The actor claimed that the article crafted a misleading narrative that damaged his reputation using cherry-picked communications — like, say, a quotedtext message that omitted an emojiindicating sarcasm. The New York Times stood by its reporting andin February 2025 filed to dismiss the lawsuit. On Jan. 16, 2025, Baldoni and his team — including Wayfarer Studios, producer Jamey Heath and PR reps Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel —filed a lawsuit in New York federal court. They accused Lively, her husband Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane of defamation and other contract violations, while seeking a whopping $400 million in damages. In Baldoni's version of events,Lively and Reynolds wanted to gain controlover the making ofIt Ends With Us,and, when met with resistance, attempted to damage Baldoni's reputation with a harassment claim. In the days after his lawsuit filing,Baldoni's team released footagefrom theIt Ends With Usset in order to contradict some of Lively's complaints about harassment. Later, in March, helaunched a websitewith information about the situation for the public to view. Also in March,Lively sought to have Baldoni's lawsuit dismissed, citing California law on misconduct claims. Swift entered the conversation when messages between Baldoni and Lively came to light in Baldoni's filing. In the lawsuit, she is referred to as Lively's "megacelebrity friend," and Baldoni claimed thatLively used her connection to Swift— whose song "My Tears Ricochet" is in the film — as leverage over control of the movie. This is why Swift was subpoenaed. Per text messages between Baldoni and Lively, Swift was allegedly with Lively when she and Baldoni werediscussing a scene fromIt Ends With Usthat Lively wanted to change. In one text exchange between her and Baldoni, Lively wrote of Swift and husband Reynolds, "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. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you." Though Swift's team said her only role in the film was providing a song for it, as other artists who were not subpoenaed had done, Baldoni previously stated that she had a larger impact. He told reporters thatSwift had watched a video of Isabela Ferrer, who plays a younger version of Lively's character, and encouraged the casting decision — something that Ferrer also shared with the press. In addition to Swift, her longtime law firm Venable isalso being subpoenaed. The subpoena, initially served April 29, demanded all communications between Venable and Lively, Reynolds and their attorney Michael Gottlieb. It specifically named Douglas Baldridge, a Venable partner who has represented Swift since 2013. On May 12, Venable filed a motion to dismiss it, per documents obtained by Billboard, calling it a "fishing expedition." The firm stated that Venable is in no way involved in the lawsuit, and that any information Baldoni seeks should be sourced from Lively and Reynolds themselves. "Venable had nothing to do with the film at issue or any of the claims or defenses asserted in the underlying lawsuit," the firm wrote, arguing the subpoena was designed "to distract from the facts of the case and impose undue burden and expense on a non-party." In a May 13 court filing, Reynolds and Lively supported Venable's motion, calling it an "abuse of the discovery process." On May 14, however, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman came back with a letter to the judge in the case, per People, stating that the decision to subpoena Swift was necessary under the circumstances. Freedman wrote that the team received a tip from what he believes to be a highly credible source that claimed thatLively urged Swift to delete text messagesbetween the two of them. The letter also alleged that Lively's lawyer demanded that Swift release a statement of support for Lively over the Baldoni situation, suggesting that if the singer refused, "private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released," the letter from Baldoni's attorney read. In a statement to People on May 14, Lively's attorney Gottlieb denied the allegations, which he called "categorically false" and "cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality." "This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties' lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process," he continued. "We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here." Baldoni also called out Reynolds's Marvel movie forallegedly attempting to damage his reputation— specifically with the character of Nicepool, portrayed by Reynolds but credited under the name "Gordon Reynolds." In the filmDeadpool & Wolverine,Nicepool is an alternative version of Reynolds's sarcastic superhero Deadpoolwho sports long hair and a bun similar to a style worn by Baldoni in the past. Nicepool also calls himself a feminist and remarks on Lively's character Ladypool's postpartum body. "Reynolds portrayed Nicepool as a vicious caricature of a 'woke' feminist before concluding the character's arc with his violent shooting death at the hands of 'Ladypool,' a character voiced by Blake Lively," the suit states. It calls the character a "transparent and mocking portrayal of Reynolds' warped perception of Baldoni." TheIt Ends With Uscredits alsothank "Gordon Reynolds." Lively and Reynolds kept a relatively low profile in the immediate wake of the lawsuit. However, the two have recently hinted at the drama at public events, one of which includesLively and Reynolds's February appearance at theSaturday Night Live50th anniversaryon Feb. 16 — their first public appearance together since the lawsuit broke. When asked how things were going by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler,Reynolds jokingly respondedwith "Why? What have you heard?" Baldoni's lawyer Freedman addressed the moment on Billy Bush's podcast, calling it "surprising" that they would joke about such serious matters. At the 2025 Time100 Gala on April 24, whereLively was an honored guestafter making its list of most influential people, she spoke about using her voice for good, saying, "Who and what we stand up for, and what we stay silent about, what we monetize versus what we actually live, matters." She also hinted at her legal battle, stating, "I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum." In a May appearance onLate Night With Seth Meyersto promoteAnother Simple Favor,Lively also spoke about using her voice for change. "What I can say without getting too much into it is that this year has been full of the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life," Lively told Meyers. "And I see so many women around, afraid to speak — especially right now — afraid to share their experiences. And fear is by design. It's what keeps us silent. But I also acknowledge that many people don't have the opportunity to speak. So I do feel fortunate that I've been able to. It's the women who have had the ability to use their voice that's kept me strong and helped me in my belief and my fight for the world to be safer for women and girls."
