New court documents reveal text messages between Blake Lively and Taylor Swift criticizing Justin Baldoni, Lively’s director and co-star in “It Ends With Us.” In the messages, Lively referred to Baldoni as a “clown,” a “bitch,” and the “doofus director of my movie,” while Swift allegedly supported Lively’s script revisions without reviewing them. According to Baldoni’s legal filings, Lively asked Swift to endorse her changes in April 2023, and Swift replied, “I’ll do anything for you!!”
Following a meeting at Lively’s apartment where Swift advocated for the revisions, Lively praised Swift in a text: “You were so epically heroic today… This clown falling for all of it.” Later texts discussed Baldoni’s plan to use Swift’s song “My Tears Ricochet” in the film’s trailer, with Swift suggesting he was not “strategic” and Lively calling the move “stupid.”
Additional messages show Swift telling Lively in December 2024, “I think this bitch knows something is coming,” ahead of a New York Times article alleging Baldoni waged a smear campaign against Lively. Lively denied premeditating the article or pressuring Swift to back her script changes without reading them. Baldoni’s lawyers also claim Lively insulted him to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, calling him a “chaotic clown” and claiming she rewrote the script and “directed every actor.”
Baldoni’s countersuit references a moment where he felt pressured by Ryan Reynolds and Swift—described as Lively’s “dragons”—to approve her script changes. A representative for Swift later clarified she had no involvement in the film’s production, casting, or creative decisions, noting she did not see the movie until weeks after its release amid her global tour. Representatives for Lively, Swift, and Baldoni did not immediately comment on the filings.