Why is Taylor Swift caught up in the Baldoni-Lively legal battle?

Four months ago, the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni began. Now, after a string of countersuits, Taylor Swift has been dragged into the fray.

On May 9, the pop star was subpoenaed as a witness in Baldoni’s $US400 million defamation countersuit against his It Ends with Us co-star. The trial is set for March 2026. Here’s what Swift has to do with it.

Taylor Swift and Blake Lively have been friends for years.Credit: Getty

How is Swift involved?

Swift and Lively have been close friends since 2015. Her song, My Tears Ricochet, featured in It Ends with Us, the dark romance film that Baldoni directed and starred in with Lively.

In January, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, alleging defamation and extortion.

The document referenced a text sent to Lively from Baldoni after allegedly reviewing her edits on the film’s rooftop scene.

“I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor),” Baldoni wrote.

Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni and Ryan Reynolds have been tied up in a bitter legal dispute since December.Credit: AP

In another message, Lively mentioned “her dragons”, a Game of Thrones reference that Baldoni claims referred to Swift and Reynolds.

“You’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons … My dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine.”

How has Swift responded?

A spokesperson for Swift denied any involvement apart from licensing her song for use in the film, something multiple 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,” the statement read, as reported by CNN.

“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 travelling around the globe during 2023 and 2024.”

What are others saying?

A spokesperson for Lively called the subpoena an attempt to “turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids”.

“This is a very serious legal matter, not Barnum & Bailey’s Circus,” they said, according to People. “The defendants continue to publicly intimidate, bully, shame and attack women’s rights and reputations.”

Now there’s an extortion claim?

On May 14, Baldoni’s legal team accused Lively’s lawyers of attempting to extort Swift, claiming they demanded she “release a statement of support for Lively, intimating that, if Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature” would be made public.

According to a letter filed with the court by Baldoni’s lawyer, Swift allegedly “addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats”.

However, Lively’s lawyer denied the allegations, describing them as “untethered to reality”.

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