Blake Lively’s legal team responds to allegations about Taylor Swift text message threats

New York Special Screening 'Another Simple Favor'
Photo Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com

A dramatic development has emerged in the ongoing It Ends with Us legal battle, with claims surfacing about potential threats involving Taylor Swiftโ€˜s private messages. However, Blake Livelyโ€˜s legal representatives have firmly denied these allegations.

The situation intensified when Justin Baldoniโ€˜s attorney Bryan Freedman recently named Swift as a key witness through a subpoena. Swiftโ€™s team quickly fired back, telling โ€œExtraโ€ that โ€œThis document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swiftโ€™s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.โ€

The plot thickened with Freedmanโ€™s latest letter to Judge Liman, addressing Venable law firmโ€™s motion to block the subpoena.

SNL50: The Anniversary Show of 'Saturday Night Live' - Arrivals
Red carpet for the SNL50: The Anniversary Show of โ€˜Saturday Night Liveโ€™. Blake Lively in New York on Feb. 16, 2025. Photo Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com

According to Freedmanโ€™s letter, โ€œThe Wayfarer Parties anticipate that Venableโ€™s motion to quash will be mooted in short order, as their counsel and Venable are conferring in good faith. However, the Lively Defendantsโ€™ insistence that the Subpoena seeks irrelevant information is wrong. The Subpoena aims to obtain discovery relating to witness tampering and evidence spoliation.โ€

The letter continues with explosive claims: โ€œSpecifically, the Wayfarer Partiesโ€™ counsel are informed and believe, based on information from a source who is highly likely to have reliable information, that (i) Ms. Lively requested that Taylor Swift delete their text messages; (ii) Michael Gottlieb of Willkie Farr, counsel for the Lively Defendants, contacted a Venable attorney who represents Ms. Swift and demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Livelyโ€™s possession would be released. The Wayfarer Partiesโ€™ counsel are further informed and believe that a representative of Ms. Swift addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication transmitted to Mr. Gottlieb. It is those communications that the Wayfarer Parties seek to obtain by way of subpoena, as they would evidence an attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation.โ€

Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds Hold Hands During A Morning Walk In New York City
Photo Credit: Elder Ordonez/INSTARimages

In a swift response to these allegations, Livelyโ€™s attorney Mike Gottlieb has denied the claim: โ€œThis 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. This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer partiesโ€™ 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.โ€

When Swiftโ€™s team addressed the subpoena last week, they made their position crystal clear, stating: โ€œTaylor 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 โ€˜It Ends with Usโ€™ until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history.โ€

Swiftโ€™s representatives further emphasized, โ€œThe connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, โ€˜My Tears Ricochet.โ€™ 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 Swiftโ€™s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.โ€

Gottlieb recently addressed speculation about potential subpoenas for Swift and Hugh Jackman, citing their close relationships with Blake and Ryan Reynolds.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively "Final Portrait" New York Screening
Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively attend the โ€œFinal Portraitโ€ New York Screening at Guggenheim Museum on March 22, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Getty Images)

Speaking to People magazine, Gottlieb stated, โ€œItโ€™s completely unclear what claims or defenses in the case any of these celebritiesโ€ฆ have any relevance to at all. This is a case about what happened to Blake Lively when she raised claims of sexual harassment on the set. Itโ€™s not a case about how songs were chosen for the movie. Itโ€™s not a case about fictional Marvel characters in โ€˜Deadpoolโ€™ movies.โ€

He continued, โ€œYou have to ask the question, then, why are these people being subpoenaed? Do they have any actual relevance to the case at hand? You canโ€™t just go around subpoenaing people because theyโ€™re famous and you think it will generate a bunch of headlines. And the federal courts donโ€™t tolerate that kind of behavior.โ€


  • Travis Kelce described himself as โ€œa guy that canโ€™t really read that wellโ€ [Celebitchy]
  • Andrew Scott is serving it in a cropped, sleeveless top. [Go Fug Yourself]
  • Nip/Tuck and Fantastic Four star Julian McMahon has passed away at 56. [Boy Culture]
  • The cable company founded by Dr. Evil, er, Dr. Phil, has filed for bankruptcy. [Pajiba]
  • Frankie Grande is set to perform at the 2025 Attitude PRIDE Awards Europe. [Kenneth in the 212]