Taylor Swift or even Marvel are actually getting dragged into the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni prison combat. Here’s the newest — and the way we were given right here.

The Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni drama is the he-said-she-said case heard round Hollywood — and in May, celebrity Taylor Swift used to be formally dragged into the mess, with a subpoena for the artist to seem in courtroom.

Lively and Baldoni are entangled in a prison combat over what would possibly or won’t have took place at the set in their Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends With Us, with Lively accusing her director and co-star at the movie of sexual harassment and a next retaliatory marketing campaign in opposition to her, and Baldoni denying all allegations and announcing the lawsuit is an try to harm his popularity.

Swift, who’s an established buddy of Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and may be godmother to their 4 kids, used to be pulled into the combat because of the discharge of textual content messages that instructed the Gossip Girl alum sought after to make use of Swift’s affect to sway selections on set. In one alternate, Lively likened herself to Game of Thrones persona Khaleesi and known as Swift — in addition to Reynolds — certainly one of her “dragons.”

Swift’s reps, on the other hand, say that the singer’s most effective involvement within the movie used to be permitting her tune “My Tears Ricochet” for use 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 see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,” her reps acknowledged in a commentary to the click, declaring that the subpoena used to be “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 courtroom in March 2026, there may be nearly surely going to be extra that can spread over the following 10 months. But how did It Ends With Us cross from a extremely expected adaptation of a well-liked BookTok novel to the middle of one of the most leisure trade’s greatest rifts to this point? Here’s what to understand.

How all of it started

Lively and Baldoni starred in combination in 2024’s It Ends With Us, in line with Hoover’s 2016 romance novel a few girl breaking out of the cycle of home violence. Baldoni, who to begin with were given the rights to the e book via his manufacturing corporate, Wayfarer Studios, additionally directed the movie, whilst Lively used to be additionally an government manufacturer at the undertaking.

When the film got here out in August 2024, fanatics spotted that Lively and Baldoni — who performed a pair within the movie — didn’t do interviews in combination or pose for pictures on the film’s premiere, fueling hypothesis that there used to be a rift between the 2.

During the movie’s press excursion, Lively confronted backlash for downplaying the tale’s central theme of home violence, as an alternative emphasizing feminine empowerment and the movie’s floral aesthetic or even weaving in promotion for her newly introduced hair care line. Social media buzz became vital in opposition to the superstar as previous interviews resurfaced that painted the actress as catty or impolite. Meanwhile, Baldoni — whose emblem and podcast Man Enough is focused on untangling himself from poisonous masculinity — won reward for together with home violence as a part of the bigger dialog concerning the movie.

Blake Lively speaks out

Lively had stayed quiet about her time at the It Ends With Us set and paintings with Baldoni — till December 2024, when she filed a grievance with the California Civil Rights Department. In her grievance, she claimed Baldoni engaged in sexual harassment and created a antagonistic paintings surroundings all the way through the movie’s manufacturing.

Her grievance coincided with a New York Times exposé titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” which detailed Lively’s allegations — at the side of her prison grievance — and highlighted the alleged retaliatory movements by means of Baldoni’s group. That integrated Baldoni encouraging publicists to drum up a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the superstar, which Lively acknowledged used to be the motive force at the back of the unexpected onslaught of unfavorable social media feedback about her.

Lively used to be to begin with met with some public strengthen following the New York Times piece — other people like her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars and her Another Simple Favor director Paul Feig spoke out in her choose — however within the weeks after the item, social media sentiment towards the actress remained unfavorable.

Justin Baldoni pushes again

On Dec. 31, 2024, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit in opposition to the New York Times. The actor claimed that the item crafted a deceptive narrative that broken his popularity the usage of cherry-picked communications — like, say, a quoted textual content message that ignored an emoji indicating sarcasm. The New York Times stood by means of its reporting and in February 2025 filed to push aside the lawsuit.

On Jan. 16, 2025, Baldoni and his group — together with Wayfarer Studios, manufacturer Jamey Heath and PR reps Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel — filed a lawsuit in New York federal courtroom. They accused Lively, her husband Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane of defamation and different contract violations, whilst in search of a whopping $400 million in damages. In Baldoni’s model of occasions, Lively and Reynolds sought after to achieve keep watch over over the making of It Ends With Us, and, when met with resistance, tried to break Baldoni’s popularity with a harassment declare.

In the times after his lawsuit submitting, Baldoni’s group launched pictures from the It Ends With Us set as a way to contradict a few of Lively’s lawsuits about harassment. Later, in March, he introduced a web page with details about the placement for the general public to view.

Also in March, Lively sought to have Baldoni’s lawsuit pushed aside, mentioning California legislation on misconduct claims.

How Taylor Swift were given concerned

Swift entered the dialog when messages between Baldoni and Lively got here to gentle in Baldoni’s submitting. In the lawsuit, she is known as Lively’s “megacelebrity friend,” and Baldoni claimed that Lively used her connection to Swift — whose tune “My Tears Ricochet” is within the movie — as leverage over keep watch over of the film. This is why Swift used to be subpoenaed.

Per textual content messages between Baldoni and Lively, Swift used to be allegedly with Lively when she and Baldoni have been discussing a scene from It Ends With Us that Lively sought after to switch.

In one textual content alternate 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 group acknowledged her most effective position within the movie used to be offering a tune for it, as different artists who weren’t subpoenaed had finished, Baldoni up to now mentioned that she had a bigger affect. He instructed newshounds that Swift had watched a video of Isabela Ferrer, who performs a more youthful model of Lively’s persona, and inspired the casting choice — one thing that Ferrer additionally shared with the click.

In addition to Swift, her longtime legislation company Venable is additionally being subpoenaed. The subpoena, to begin with served April 29, demanded all communications between Venable and Lively, Reynolds and their legal professional Michael Gottlieb. It particularly named Douglas Baldridge, a Venable spouse who has represented Swift since 2013.

On May 12, Venable filed a movement to push aside it, in step with paperwork bought by means of Billboard, calling it a “fishing expedition.” The company mentioned that Venable is not at all concerned within the lawsuit, and that any data Baldoni seeks must 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 company wrote, arguing the subpoena used to be designed “to distract from the facts of the case and impose undue burden and expense on a non-party.”

In a May 13 courtroom submitting, Reynolds and Lively supported Venable’s movement, calling it an “abuse of the discovery process.”

On May 14, on the other hand, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman got here again with a letter to the pass judgement on within the case, in step with People, declaring that the verdict to subpoena Swift used to be important below the cases. Freedman wrote that the group won a tip from what he believes to be a extremely credible supply that claimed that Lively prompt Swift to delete textual content messages between the 2 of them.

The letter additionally alleged that Lively’s attorney demanded that Swift free up a commentary of strengthen for Lively over the Baldoni scenario, 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 legal professional learn.

In a commentary to People on May 14, Lively’s legal professional Gottlieb denied the allegations, which he known as “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 persisted. “We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.”

On May 18, Lively’s group filed a movement in New York’s Southern District Court that alleged Baldoni’s attorney made the declare that she extorted Swift as some way “to seed harassing media narratives” in opposition to the actress.

“These public attacks, combined with the Rule 11 Plaintiffs filing numerous claims against Ms. Lively without any basis in law or fact, is willfully improper and warrants sanctions,” the prison file learn, in step with TheWrap.

Lively’s group additionally filed a 2d movement to compel Wayfarer Studios handy over paperwork and recordings from what they name a “disingenuous charade” of an investigation into her sexual harassment at the It Ends With Us set. The submitting accuses Wayfarer of failing to correctly examine her allegations, which come with Baldoni allegedly discussing his intercourse lifestyles and staging improvised intimacy scenes with out her consent. Her group argues that if an actual investigation had taken position in 2023, it might have validated her claims — and that Lively would had been “spared the retaliatory smear campaign” she alleges Baldoni incited in its wake.

However, on May 22, the subpoena in opposition to Swift used to be dropped.

A spokesperson for Lively showed that Baldoni’s prison group has withdrawn subpoenas issued to Swift and her prison recommend — a transfer the spokesperson says they’re “pleased” with.

“We supported the efforts of Taylor’s team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel, and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process,” the spokesperson acknowledged in a commentary bought by means of People.

The commentary additionally criticized the Baldoni and Wayfarer group’s dealing with of the case, suggesting that they had tried to make use of Swift’s status for strategic merit. “The Baldoni and Wayfarer team have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one,” the spokesperson acknowledged. “Exploiting Taylor Swift’s celebrity was the original plan in Melissa Nathan’s scenario planning document, and it continues to this day. Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded. At some point they will run out of distractions from the actual claims of sexual harassment and retaliation they are facing.”

Where Deadpool is available in

Baldoni also known as out Reynolds’s Marvel film for allegedly making an attempt to break his popularity — particularly with the nature of Nicepool, portrayed by means of Reynolds however credited below the title “Gordon Reynolds.” In the movie Deadpool & Wolverine, Nicepool is another model of Reynolds’s sarcastic superhero Deadpool who sports activities lengthy hair and a bun very similar to a mode worn by means of Baldoni previously. Nicepool additionally calls himself a feminist and remarks on Lively’s persona Ladypool’s postpartum frame.

“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 go well with states. It calls the nature a “transparent and mocking portrayal of Reynolds’ warped perception of Baldoni.”

The It Ends With Us credit additionally thank “Gordon Reynolds.”

Blake Lively breaks her silence in 2025

Lively and Reynolds stored a slightly low profile within the quick wake of the lawsuit. However, the 2 have lately hinted on the drama at public occasions, certainly one of which contains Lively and Reynolds’s February look on the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary on Feb. 16 — their first public look in combination for the reason that lawsuit broke. When requested how issues have been going by means of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Reynolds jokingly spoke back with “Why? What have you heard?”

Baldoni’s attorney Freedman addressed the instant on Billy Bush’s podcast, calling it “surprising” that they might comic story about such severe issues.

At the 2025 Time100 Gala on April 24, the place Lively used to be an commemorated visitor after making its checklist of maximum influential other people, she spoke about the usage of her voice for excellent, announcing, “Who and what we stand up for, and what we stay silent about, what we monetize versus what we actually live, matters.”

She additionally hinted at her prison combat, declaring, “I have so much to say about the last two years of my life, but tonight is not the forum.”

In a May look on Late Night With Seth Meyers to advertise Another Simple Favor, Lively additionally spoke about the usage of her voice for trade.

“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 instructed 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.”