Justin Baldoni Suit Claims Blake Lively Used Taylor Swift as Pressure

The legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in the aftermath of “It Ends With Us” widened its blast zone Thursday morning, with a new lawsuit filed by Baldoni including text messages between Lively and Baldoni, her co-star and director. In the lyrics, Lively seemingly refers to Taylor Swift as “one of her dragons.” The superstar is a friend of Lively.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday morning against Lively and her husband, actor-producer Ryan Reynolds, Baldoni alleges the couple hijacked the film “It Ends With Us” and sought to destroy her public reputation with false allegations of sexual harassment . Baldoni is seeking $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.

Representatives for Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In text messages between Baldoni and Lively included on pages 23 to 25 of the 179-page filing, Baldoni discusses a rooftop scene from the film that Lively allegedly reworked into the script. Baldoni’s lawyers say their client “felt compelled to text Lively to tell her that he had liked her pages and that he didn’t need Reynolds and his megacelebrity friend to do pressure on him.

The suit alleges that Lively, along with Reynolds, gradually asserted control over “It Ends With Us” during production, including the rooftop scene in which Lively and Baldoni’s characters first meet. According to the filing, Lively summoned Baldoni to her New York penthouse, where Reynolds and a “megacelebrity friend” — who appears to be Swift — both praised Lively’s version of the scene.

“I was also working on the rooftop scene today, I really like what you did. This really helps a lot,” Baldoni wrote in the text message. “It’s so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt this way if not for Ryan and Taylor) You are truly a talent on every level. Really excited and grateful to be doing this together.

In a subsequent 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 work.” Lively continues, “They also know that I’m not always as good at making sure I’m seen and used for fear of threatening my ego or fear of affecting the ease of the process. They don’t really care. And that’s why everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm. So I guess I need to stop worrying about whether people like me.

The lengthy post ends with Lively comparing herself to Khaleesi, the dragon-controlling queen played by Emilia Clarke in “Game of Thrones,” and hinting at the powerful forces she has in her corner. Lively wrote: “If you ever watch Game of Thrones you will understand that I am Khaleesi and like her I have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for the better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So, really, we all benefit from my magnificent monsters. You will too, I can promise you that.

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 looking out for Lively. He also faced Lively’s “dragons,” two of the most influential and richest celebrities in the world, who weren’t afraid to make things very difficult for him.

Lively filed her own complaint against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath and publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel on December 31, 10 days after an initial complaint against them to the California Department of Civil Rights. The actor accused Baldoni and others of orchestrating an underground media smear campaign against her, in retaliation for her complaints that she was the victim of sexual harassment on the set of the film. In response, Baldoni first sued the New York Times – which was the first media outlet to report on Lively’s complaint – alleging that the newspaper had worked with Lively’s team, taking text messages out of context in order to to defame him. At the time, Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, promised more lawsuits would follow.