Judge says Blake Lively must turn over Taylor Swift texts to Justin Baldoni’s legal team

In the latest chapter of Blake Lively‘s ongoing legal battle against It Ends With Us co-star/director Justin Baldoni, a judge has ruled the actress must turn over her relevant text message exchanges with Taylor Swift to Baldoni’s legal team.

In the June 18 ruling obtained by Entertainment Weekly, US District Judge Lewis J. Liman writes that “Lively herself has identified Swift as someone likely to have knowledge about complaints or discussions regarding the working environment on the set of It Ends With Us,” adding that the requests from Baldoni’s legal team to see Lively’s messages with Swift about production of the film “are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims.”

Lively’s legal fight with Baldoni began on December 20, 2024, when the actress lodged a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of the film and later launching a “sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan” against her if the allegations went public. One day later, the New York Times published an article titled “We Can Bury Anyone: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” that detailed how Baldoni’s PR team allegedly strategized to smear Lively’s reputation. On December 31, 2024, Lively formally filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer studios, and his PR team.

Since then, the he said/she said saga has played out in the courts — with lawsuits and countersuits filed and dropped — and in the court of public opinion. In February of this year, Baldoni launched a website featuring the full text of his countersuit against Lively. Later that month, Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, joked about the lawsuit during SNL‘s 50th Anniversary special, and … well, you can read a complete timeline of the legal back and forth here.

Swift, a longtime friend of Lively’s, was officially drawn into the situation in May of this year, when Baldoni’s team subpoenaed the pop star as a witness in the case. The subpoena was later withdrawn, but the actor’s legal team still seeks Lively’s relevant communications with Swift as part of the discovery process. In his ruling, Judge Liman acknowledged the argument from Lively’s legal team that Baldoni and his lawyers are seeking Swift’s text messages not “to obtain information relevant to claims and defenses in court, but to prop up a public relations narrative outside of court.” But, he continued, “this concern does not justify denying the Wayfarer Parties relevant discovery.” Judge Liman also denied Baldoni and Wayfarer’s cross-motion to compel, which asked Lively to produce documents related to the production.

EW has reached out to representatives for Swift and Baldoni for comment.

In a statement to EW, a spokesperson for Lively said, “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.”

The statement continues, “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’… 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.”