Judge denies Blake Lively's move to keep texts between her and Taylor Swift private in legal battle vs Justin Baldoni
A judge rejected Blake Lively's request to keep her text conversations with Taylor Swift private from Justin Baldoni amid their legal feud.
On Wednesday, June 18, Judge Lewis J. Liman denied Lively's motion for a protective order for her communications with Swift about the movie, It Ends with Us.
In the new court document obtained by Deadline, Liman stated that Lively claims that "Wayfarer Parties never needed communications between Swift and Lively, in which case the Swift RFPs are irrelevant."
However, the judge said that the messages may be "relevant" to Lively's harassment claims against Baldoni.
"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," the order read.
"Lively’s motion is rooted in the broader concern that the Wayfarer Parties are using demands for communications with Swift not 'to obtain information relevant to claims and defenses in court, but to prop up a public relations narrative outside of court,'" he added.
Liman noted that these messages are protected by an order issued by the court to prevent them from being leaked to the press.
"Given that Lively has represented that Swift had knowledge of complaints or discussions about the working environment on the film, among other issues, the requests for messages with Swift regarding the film and this action are reasonably tailored to discover information that would prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims," he added.
Baldoni's team previously subpoenaed Swift but later withdrew it. At the time, they alleged she was among those who pressured the actor into accepting one of Lively's rewrites for It Ends with Us.
Swift's legal representative, meanwhile, said the singer did not have any active participation in the film other than the use of her song, My Tears Ricochet, adding that Baldoni's issuance of a subpoena was created to use the singer's name "to draw public interest" by creating "tabloid clickbait."
Meanwhile, Baldoni's team's cross-motion to compel was also denied, which would have required Lively to release documents about the production.
Baldoni's camp has no comment on the latest development, but Lively's camp maintains that they will continue "to call out Baldoni’s relentless efforts to exploit Ms. Swift’s popularity."
"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," Lively's representative said in a statement to PEOPLE.
"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,'" the rep continued.
"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."
This came after Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called Lively's victory "false" following the dismissal of his client's $400 million (P22 billion) countersuit against the actress and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Ongoing legal battle
The legal saga of Lively and Baldoni stemmed from the former filing a sexual harassment complaint against the latter and Jamey Heath of Wayfarer Studios, the producer of It Ends with Us, which starred Lively and Baldoni, who was also the director. Lively also accused them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction." Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth. Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child." Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
The New York Times later published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, which used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails that Lively obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
Baldoni's camp has called the accusations in the report "categorically false."
Later, his camp released a series of video takes during the production of It Ends with Us in an attempt to debunk Lively's sexual harassment allegations against him. Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, in turn, requested a gag order.
On Feb. 3, Baldoni launched a website containing two documents: his $400 million 224-page amended complaint against Lively and Reynolds and a 168-page "timeline of relevant events," which included a compilation of screenshots as an additional exhibit to his amended complaint. It came two days before their first court hearing.
The trial for the Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. case is slated for March 2026.
