{"id":252819,"date":"2026-01-23T02:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252819\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T02:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:43:07","slug":"legal-saga-exposed-as-blake-livelys-emails-and-texts-are-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252819\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal saga exposed as Blake Lively’s emails and texts are released"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trove of text messages and emails sent by Blake Lively<\/a>, including exchanges with her longtime friend Taylor Swift<\/a>, have been made public by actor-director Justin Baldoni<\/a> \u2018s lawyers as they prepare for trial.<\/p>\n

Lively sued Baldoni<\/a> and his hired crisis communications expert alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation after she complained about his treatment of her while filming the 2024 romantic drama \u201cIt Ends With Us.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The documents were unsealed ahead of Thursday\u2019s arguments before a federal judge in New York City about whether to end their acrimonious yearlong litigation, which has threatened to suck in other actors, musicians and celebrities and raised questions about the levers of power, influence and gender dynamics in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company countersued<\/a> Lively and her husband, \u201cDeadpool\u201d actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed that suit<\/a> last June. Liman did not indicate Thursday when he would rule on Lively\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

At this point, the trial remains scheduled for May 18, and could be star-studded. A document from Lively\u2019s legal team says people likely to have information about the case, besides Swift, include model Gigi Hadid, actors Emily Blunt, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Hugh Jackman, influencer Candace Owens, media personality Perez Hilton and designer Ashley Avignone.<\/p>\n

Swift appears to criticize Baldoni in texts<\/p>\n

Many of the text messages and emails unsealed Tuesday night were included in filings by Baldoni\u2019s lawyers, who argued that they show Lively was strategically manipulating Baldoni\u2019s public image by leveraging connections with her powerful and famous friends.<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s messages show that before and after their feud became public, she was advising Lively how to use Hollywood\u2019s power dynamics to her advantage.<\/p>\n

In April 2024, Lively sent Swift a message containing a link to the \u201cIt Ends With Us\u201d trailer \u2014 which would be released publicly weeks later, featuring Swift\u2019s song \u201cMy Tears Ricochet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWow I love how they use the song,\u201d Swift replied. \u201cWelcome to hollywood Justin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women then speculated about how the public would interpret the song\u2019s inclusion in the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Justin was strategic\/He would be like no Taylor Swift in the trailer\/Because that gives you more power over the film, that\u2019s your ally not his,\u201d Swift wrote.<\/p>\n

Lively responded: \u201cYou are so right. And so wickedly smart to call it. He should\u2019ve run from your music. I never thought about that. But holy s(asterisk)(asterisk)t. How stupid. This was his only shot at having the appearance of an upper hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the hearing, Lively\u2019s attorney Sigrid McCawley told reporters that the text exchange isn\u2019t relevant, and that Lively has done \u201ceverything she can to protect her friends from not being brought into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s relevant is her claims that she was sexually harassed in the workplace and the witnesses that were there to see that,\u201d McCawley said.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Baldoni and Swift did not respond Thursday to emailed requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The stress of public scrutiny<\/p>\n

In another text exchange, Dec. 4, 2024, Lively checked in with Swift, writing that she felt \u201clike a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack\u201d who only talked about her own problems \u201cfor months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were generous to not only be the key person there for me during all of it, but also to let me off the hook for being so in it,\u201d Lively wrote. \u201cBut still have a feeling something may not be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift replied that she did perceive a shift in Lively\u2019s language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through things like this before and I know how all consuming it is,\u201d Swift wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s more like… and I feel really bad saying anything about this because your texts have been so nice in their intent but your last few… it\u2019s felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees. You said the word \u2018we\u2019 like 18 times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just kinda miss my dark, normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself, not like. A plural unit,\u201d Swift wrote.<\/p>\n

The following day, Swift sent Lively a link to a People magazine story with the headline \u201cJustin Baldoni Reveals He Was Sexually Traumatized by an Ex-Girlfriend When He Was \u2018Hoping to Save Myself for Marriage.\u2019\u201d Swift wrote: \u201cI think this b(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) knows something is coming because he\u2019s gotten out his tiny violin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weeks later, Swift told Lively, \u201cYou won\u201d and \u201cYou did it,\u201d while sharing an article saying Baldoni had been dropped by his talent agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever has a cancellation been reversed so fast,\u201d Swift wrote, after telling Lively that she \u201chelped so many people who won\u2019t have to go through this ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you so much,\u201d Lively responded. \u201cI would not be ok through any of this if it weren\u2019t for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge considers dismissal<\/p>\n

In court Thursday, Baldoni attorney Jonathan Bach accused Lively of filling her lawsuit with \u201ctrivial and petty grievances\u201d that fall short of legal standards for a hostile workplace claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cA whole bunch of little things can add up to a big thing,\u201d the judge responded. <\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s lawyer, Esra Hudson, countered with her allegations of repeated unwanted physical touching or humiliating incidents on the set, including an unscripted moment when she said Baldoni leaned in and kissed Lively, putting his face on her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s clearly having her boundaries crossed in that moment. It was a surprise. No one discussed it before,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n

When the judge said he was \u201cstill having trouble\u201d determining how the question of consent fits on the set of a movie, Hudson urged him to look at the \u201ctotality of circumstances,\u201d including when Lively was unexpectedly made to \u201ccrawl on all fours\u201d and simulate a sex act.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister contributed from New York City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trove of text messages and emails sent by Blake Lively, including exchanges with her longtime friend Taylor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[43161,64394,22715,134541,3164,24670,458,15039,13440,146,122,4551,9044,85,46,134540,3165,4675,4669,134542,13965,2080,132811,130290,2070,917],"class_list":{"0":"post-252819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alexis-bledel","9":"tag-america-ferrera","10":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","11":"tag-ashley-avignone","12":"tag-blake-lively","13":"tag-candace-owens","14":"tag-celebrities","15":"tag-email-and-messaging","16":"tag-emily-blunt","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-gigi-hadid","20":"tag-hugh-jackman","21":"tag-il","22":"tag-israel","23":"tag-jonathan-bach","24":"tag-justin-baldoni","25":"tag-lawsuits","26":"tag-legal-proceedings","27":"tag-lewis-j-liman","28":"tag-perez-hilton","29":"tag-ryan-reynolds","30":"tag-send-to-apple-news","31":"tag-sigrid-mccawley","32":"tag-taylor-swift","33":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}