Blake Lively and Taylor Swift Address Their Friendship ‘Shift’ in Unsealed Texts

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift's friendship continues to make headlines, amid the ongoing legal battle between Lively and her It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni.

The Gossip Girl star sued Baldoni in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on set, and for allegedly coordinating a smear campaign against her. Baldoni has denied the allegations, filing a $400 million countersuit that has since been dismissed.

Taylor Swift is one of the A-list names to have become entangled in the Lively v Wayfarer Studios legal battle, with the Opalite singer referenced in Baldoni's countersuit as Lively's "mega celebrity friend" and one of her "most trusted partners".

And while her subpoena - a move criticised by her lawyers, has been dropped, Baldoni's legal team was granted access to her personal text messages with Lively for information.

This week, a series of private messages between Swift and Lively were made public, with the court documents unsealed. And the text exchange between the two A-list women sees them address a "shift" in their friendship amid Lively's media storm.

"I have no reason to ask, but I dunno, I've been feeling like I should... is everything ok?" reads a text from Lively to Swift on 4 December 2024, according to court documents. "I felt like a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack who only talked about my own shit for months. You were generous to not only be the key person there for me during all of it, but also to let me off the hook for being so in it.

"I felt so stupid and like it sounded needy and awkward for everyone, especially bc [sic] I can't explain why I have this feeling," her message later added. "I do want to know everything is good, so I'm asking. I always want the opportunity to be a better friend if there's something I unintentionally did. I know how busy and taxed you are - physically, emotionally, practically, so I don't expect any more from you ever."

"You're not wrong," reads Swift's response, per the documents, stressing to Lively that it was "also not a big deal".

"I think I'm just exhausted in every avenue of my life and in recent months had been feeling a little bit of a shift in the way you talk to me," she wrote. "Yes, there has been a lot of Justin stuff but I've been through things like this before and I know how all consuming it is.

"It's more like... and I feel really bad saying anything about this because your texts have been so nice in their intent but your last few... it's felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees. It feels awful to be in any way critical of any way you process what you've been going through but I just kinda miss my funny, dark, normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself.

"I know you feel attacked from all sides for ridiculous reasons, so you're feeling like you have to overly explain things... but it's me," she added. "That's just caused a little distance. And you don't need to apologize. Just come back, please."

"Thank you for your feedback. We at headquarters are reviewing your concerns and will get back to you in a timely manner," Lively jokily responded, according to the documents.

"For real, though. You're right," she continued. "I've become digitally paranoid. I've been texting like I'm writing. Not like me talking. I didn't realize that until you pointed it out, but I see it. On top of that, I'm over packaging simple things bc [sic] I've felt so deeply misunderstood that I don't trust my judgement of myself anymore...

"Point is, I'm being a stupid paranoid weirdo and felt it but didn't know where or how or when. So thank you for telling me and for saying I don't need to apologize and for not making it a big deal. But I am sorry. To you."

Lively and Swift have not publicly addressed their message exchange.

The Lively v Wayfarer Studios trial is set for May 2026.