Blake Lively's legal team has responded to Justin Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman's claim that lawyers had been in touch to demand that Taylor post a message publicly supporting Blake during her lawsuit, or messages between Blake and Taylor would be "leaked" to the public.
A judge has since rejected the claims, which Bryan claimed was from a source close to Taylor, with Blake's legal team sharing a statement which read: "It took the court less than 24 hours to see through Mr. Freedman's irrelevant, improper and inflammatory accusations, strike them, remove them from the court and warn Mr. Freedman that further misconduct may be met with sanctions."
He originally claimed that the It Ends with Us actress' reps had "requested, on Ms. Lively's behalf, that Taylor Swift make a social media statement in support of Ms. Lively given her absence from the Super Bowl that year, and stated that if Ms. Swift failed to do so, Ms. Lively would release '10 years' of private texts with Ms. Swift".
© GC ImagesA judge called the allegations "defamatory," adding: "The apparent intent of the Freedman Letter is to launder scandalous and defamatory allegations about Ms. Lively and opposing counsel into the press by abusing the Court's docket." He added that any future misuse "may be met with sanctions".
Blake's attorney Mike Gottlieb's statement read: "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.
© PATRICK T. FALLON"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."
© GettyThis is the latest chapter in a shocking feud between Blake and the It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni. After the mum-of-four received widespread criticism during the tour of their movie, the New York Times released an expose claiming that it was the product of a smear campaign released by Justin, who Blake had accused of misconduct while filming on set. Justin then launched a counter lawsuit for defamation.
Blake vs Justin: feud timeline
© Getty Images2024
9th August – It Ends With Us is released
6th August – Justin walks the red carpet away from the rest of his costars during the movie premiere
13th August –Justin hires crisis PR Melissa Nathan who represented Johnny Depp during his defamation trial
20th December – Blake files a huge lawsuit against Justin, accusing him of "unprofessional'' behaviour on set
21st December – Justin is dropped by his talent agency
22nd December – The New York Times leaks private messages, attesting to a PR smear campaign against Blake
31st December – Justin files a lawsuit against The New York Times
31st December – Blake files a lawsuit against Justin
2025
16th January – Justin countersues Blake for $400 million
21st January – Justin's team releases footage from the It Ends With Us set, contradicting Blake's argument
27th January – A trial date is set for March 2026
27th January – Audio of Justin is leaked where he allegedly apologises to Blake during filming
1st February –Justin's team launches a website with two legal documents about the dispute
5th February – Blake is sued by crisis PR firm for $7 million
Taylor, who is close friends with Blake and named in text messages between Blake and Justin, has been listed in a subpoena regarding the case, with a representative telling HELLO!: "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".
© Getty Images for The Recording A"The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, My Tears Ricochet. Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case".
