The legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in the aftermath of “It ends with us” expanded its blast zone Thursday morning, with a new lawsuit from Baldoni including text messages between Lively and Baldoni, her co-star and director. In the lyrics, Lively seemingly alludes Taylor Swift as “one of her dragons”. The superstar is a friend of Lively.
In the trial, applied for Lively and her husband, actor-producer Ryan Reynolds, on Thursday morning claimed Baldoni that the couple hijacked the movie “It Ends With Us” and tried to destroy his public reputation with false allegations of sexual harassment. Baldoni is demanding $400 million in damages. Swift is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, nor is her name mentioned in the filing beyond a reference to “Taylor” in a text message Baldoni sent to Lively.
Swift’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In text messages between Baldoni and Lively included on pages 23-25 of the 179-page file, Baldoni discusses a rooftop scene in the film that Lively allegedly reworked in the script. Baldoni’s lawyers claim their client “felt compelled to text Lively to say he had liked her pages and didn’t need Reynolds and her mega-celebrity friend to pressure him.”
The suit alleges that Lively, along with Reynolds, gradually asserted control over “It Ends With Us” during production, including the rooftop scene where Lively and Baldoni’s characters meet for the first time. According to the filing, Lively summoned Baldoni to her New York penthouse, where Reynolds and a “mega-celebrity friend” — who appears to be Swift — both praised Lively’s version of the scene.
“I also worked on the rooftop scene today, I really love what you did. It really cheers me up,” Baldoni wrote in the text. “Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor) You are truly a talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to be doing this together.”
In a later text from Lively, according to the complaint, the star refers to Reynolds and another person (whose name is redacted) as “absolute titans as writers and storytellers outside of their primary gig.” Lively continues, “They also know that I’m not always as good at making sure I’m seen and taken advantage of for fear of threatening egos, or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don’t give a damn about that. And on because of that, everyone listens to them with enormous respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I have to stop worrying about people liking me.”
The lengthy message ends with Lively comparing herself to Khaleesi, the dragon-wielding queen played by Emilia Clarke on “Game of Thrones,” alluding to powerful powers she has in her corner. Lively wrote: “If you’ll ever watch Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but mostly for good. Because my dragons also protect them I fight for. So we all benefit from my wonderful monsters. You will too, I promise you.”
Baldoni’s complaint claims this was Lively’s way of putting pressure on Baldoni.
“The message could not have been clearer,” the complaint states. “Baldoni wasn’t just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most powerful and wealthy celebrities in the world, who weren’t afraid to make it very difficult for him.”
Live archived her own trial against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel on Dec. 31, 10 days after an initial complaint was filed against them with the California Civil Rights Department. The actor accused Baldoni and others of orchestrating a secret smear campaign against her, in retaliation for her complaints of alleged sexual harassment on the set of the film. In response, Baldoni first sued the New York Times—which was the first outlet to report Lively’s complaint—alleging that the paper had worked with Lively’s team and taken the text messages out of context to defame him. At the time, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, promised more lawsuits would follow.
