Blake Lively Threatened to Leak Taylor Swift Texts If Singer Didn’t Publicly Support Her, Claim Justin Baldoni’s Lawyers …See More

Blake Lively Threatened to Leak Taylor Swift Texts If Singer Didn’t Publicly Support Her, Claim Justin Baldoni’s Lawyers …See More

Justin Baldoni’s attorneys brought forth a bombshell claim in a new court filing, alleging that Blake Lively threatened best friend Taylor Swift to publicly support her in her It Ends With Us legal battle. A lawyer for Lively calls the allegation “categorically false.”

After pushback from Lively and Ryan Reynolds on a subpoena issued to Venable, the law firm that represents Swift, Baldoni’s lawyers responded in a letter to the judge on Wednesday, May 14, arguing why they believe the subpoena is necessary in this case.
The Lively Defendants’ insistence that the Subpoena seeks irrelevant information is wrong,” writes Bryan Freedman in the letter.

Freedman claims to have received a tip from a “source who is highly likely to have reliable information,” according to the letter. That anonymous source alleged that Lively asked Swift to delete text messages.

Another allegation included in the letter suggests Lively’s attorney contacted Swift’s attorney “and demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively” — as well as “intimating that if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively’s possession would be released.”

Freedman alleges that they were also informed that Swift’s lawyer responded to Lively’s attorney and “addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats….” He adds, “It is those communications that the Wayfarer Parties seek to obtain” as potential evidence of “an attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, Lively’s attorney Mike Gottlieb says, “This is categorically false. We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are 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. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.”

It came to light on May 9 that Swift, 35, was issued a subpoena in the ongoing legal battle, which began when Lively, 37, sued her It Ends With Us costar and director Baldoni, 41, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. He denied the claims, filing a $400 million countersuit of his own, accusing Lively and others of defamation and extortion.
In a fiery statement after the subpoena news, Swift’s spokesperson distanced the pop star from It Ends With Us and the surrounding legal drama.

“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,” said her rep.