Justin Baldoni Can Obtain Blake Lively and Taylor Swift’s Texts About Movie, Judge Rules

A judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni can now obtain text messages between Blake Lively and Taylor Swift — but only pertaining to their film, It Ends With Us.

“A motion or request may be, and in this case often has been, both a legitimate litigation tactic and an attempt to maneuver in the broader court of public opinion,” Judge Lewis Liman wrote in a Wednesday, June 18, ruling viewed by Us Weekly.

Swift, 35, previously moved to drop the subpoenas filed by Baldoni’s team, which were eventually withdrawn. (A source close to the matter told Us at the time that the summons for Swift was dropped “because information was voluntarily provided” to Baldoni’s legal team.)

Lively, 37, then requested a “protective order” against Baldoni’s team over their “continuing demands” for her communications with Swift earlier this month, claiming the messages were “irrelevant” to the case.

Judge Liman, however, disagreed in his Wednesday ruling, writing, “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.”

A spokesperson for Lively responded to the ruling in a statement to Us, writing, “The Court outright denied the Wayfarer Parties’ motion to compel documents from Ms. Lively, who has produced far more documents in this case than the Wayfarer Parties combined. Further, 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.”

The statement continued, “As for the rest, Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer parties demanded access to Taylor Swift’s private communications — despite having already subpoenaed and then withdrawn that subpoena. 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’ (Lively Amended Complaint, 214(b)). 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.”

Us Weekly has reached out to Swift’s team for comment.

Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle began in December 2024 when the actress accused her It Ends With Us costar and director of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment on the film’s set and orchestrating an alleged smear campaign against her.

Baldoni denied the allegations and countersued Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and publicist Leslie Sloane for $400 million, accusing them of civil extortion, defamation and more, which they denied.

Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and Sloane was dismissed earlier this month, but the judge did allow Baldoni and his legal team to amend their claims for breach of implied covenant and tortious interference with contract. They were given a deadline of June 23.

“Ms. Lively and her team’s predictable declaration of victory is false, so let us be clear about the latest ruling,” Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman told Us in a statement on June 10. “While the Court dismissed the defamation-related claims, the Court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations. This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively’s own team conveniently describes as ‘untraceable’ because they cannot prove what never happened.”

Lively, meanwhile, addressed the ruling via her Instagram Stories on June 9, writing,  “I stood proudly alongside 19 organizations united in defending women’s rights to speak up for their safety. Like so many others, I’ve felt the pain of a retaliatory lawsuit, including the manufactured shame that tries to break us.”