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| Taylor Swift and Blake Lively hug before the Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Feb. 11. |
Jan. 17, 2025, 8:46 AM GMT+6
In the most recent legal filing in the "It Ends With Us" dispute, director and star Justin Baldoni claims that co-star Blake Lively used her powerful connections to ensure her vision for the film was included in the final cut.
Among those connections is pop sensation Taylor Swift, whom Lively has been close friends with for years, as well as her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Baldoni filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Lively, Reynolds, and their publicist, alleging that Reynolds and Swift supported a version of a scene that was written by Lively. The lawsuit includes screenshots of text messages exchanged between Baldoni and Lively.
Though Swift is not directly named in the lawsuit, she is referred to as a "megacelebrity friend," with one text mentioning "Taylor." Baldoni's team confirmed to NBC News that the Taylor in the lawsuit refers to Swift.
Swift has not yet commented. Lively, however, filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni late last month, accusing him of harassment on set and conducting a smear campaign to damage her reputation.
Baldoni's attorney called Lively's allegations "completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious," accusing her of attempting to salvage her image. Lively’s lawyer countered, describing Baldoni’s lawsuit as a typical case of DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender), in which the accused attempts to turn the tables on the victim after they speak out about harassment.
On the same day Lively filed her suit, Baldoni also sued The New York Times for libel, following their report on a civil rights complaint Lively filed against him.
Lively has stated that her decision to speak out has led to further retaliation and attacks.
Reynolds did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
In his lawsuit, Baldoni seeks $400 million and claims that he allowed Lively to rewrite the well-known "rooftop scene," where their characters first meet in It Ends With Us. According to the suit, Lively asked for the opportunity, mentioning that other directors had not let her write scenes.
Baldoni admits that he was "reluctant" to allow the rewrite but agreed to review her draft, which he said "dramatically differed" from the original version. He thanked Lively for her passion, assuring her that the scene would likely fall somewhere between the original and her version.
After Baldoni's response, Lively allegedly went silent for several days before texting him, expressing that his response "of course, didn't feel great for me." She also mentioned "them," which Baldoni asserts refers to Reynolds and Swift, who had previously praised her version of the scene at an earlier meeting at Lively’s home.
During the meeting, Reynolds allegedly greeted Baldoni and immediately praised Lively's version of the scene. As the meeting ended, another close friend of Reynolds and Lively entered and similarly expressed admiration for Lively’s script, leading Baldoni to feel pressured to comply with Lively’s vision for the scene.
Baldoni texted Lively after the meeting, saying, "I really love what you did... Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor)."
Lively responded at length, emphasizing that they were "in this together" and defending her "dragons" — a reference to Reynolds and Swift. She described them as her "most trusted partners" and noted that she only sent Baldoni her revised scene after they had approved it.
Lively elaborated, stating that Reynolds and Swift were respected for their work as writers and storytellers beyond their primary careers, and that she no longer worried about being liked or feared for threatening egos, as they were not concerned with those things.
She ended her message by comparing herself to Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, reflecting her newfound confidence in speaking up for her creative contributions.
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