Taylor Swift has officially been cleared from participating in the intensifying legal battle between actress Blake Lively and actor-director Justin Baldoni.
The pop superstar, whose name surfaced unexpectedly in the courtroom drama, was briefly caught in the crossfire when Baldoni’s legal team issued a subpoena requesting communications between Swift and lawyers representing Lively.
However, the order has now been withdrawn, with Swift’s team successfully arguing that the subpoena had no legal merit and was intended only to drag her into a case that had nothing to do with her.
The legal clash stems from serious allegations filed by Lively, who co-starred with Baldoni in the 2024 film It Ends With Us.
The actress has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a targeted smear campaign against her following disagreements over the film’s production.
In what has now become a multifaceted dispute, Baldoni has filed a countersuit against Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, claiming civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
With accusations flying on both sides, the sudden mention of Taylor Swift drew immense media attention.
According to Variety, Baldoni’s team had hoped to uncover messages between Swift and Lively’s representatives—conversations they speculated might prove the singer’s involvement in pressuring Baldoni to accept Lively’s rewrites for the film script.
In response, Swift’s legal team quickly and forcefully rejected the subpoena, calling it an “unwarranted fishing expedition” that had no legitimate basis.
“This was an attempt to create tabloid clickbait, plain and simple,” a representative for Swift said earlier this month in a statement to the BBC.
A spokesperson for Blake Lively expressed satisfaction that Swift would no longer be implicated in the case, praising the pop star’s legal team for taking swift action.
“We supported the efforts of Taylor’s team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel,” the spokesperson said.
“We will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process.”
The spokesperson went on to criticize Baldoni’s legal strategy, accusing his team of using Swift’s fame as a smokescreen.
“They have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one. Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded.”
The initial subpoena was reportedly based on a claim that Swift had hosted a meeting in her New York apartment where Lively, Baldoni, Reynolds, and Swift herself discussed the film’s direction.
Baldoni claimed he was ambushed and described the gathering as a “script rewrite session,” adding that Swift and Reynolds were there to serve as Lively’s “dragons.”
Swift’s representatives quickly refuted those details. “Taylor was not involved in any casting or creative decision,” a spokesperson clarified. “She never saw an edit or made any notes on the film.”
Further complicating matters, Variety reported that Baldoni’s attorneys were also seeking communications related to a separate accusation: that Lively’s legal team allegedly threatened to leak old messages unless Swift made a public statement backing Lively.
This claim, too, was roundly denied by Lively’s lawyers, who called it “unequivocally and demonstrably false.”
They reiterated that neither Swift nor her team had any part in such tactics and that her only connection to the matter was through her longstanding friendship with Lively.
With the subpoena dropped, Swift is now firmly removed from the volatile legal proceedings, although the underlying lawsuits between Lively and Baldoni continue to develop.
The feud, initially centered around a major film project, has since ballooned into a high-profile legal standoff involving accusations of harassment, retaliation, and media manipulation.
Meanwhile, Swift’s team hopes that the focus will finally return to the real issues at stake.
“Taylor will not be used as a pawn in someone else’s dispute,” her spokesperson said. “She remains focused on her work and her fans.”
