Yahoo Lifestyle Taylor Swift and Blake Lively: Are they besties or is there bad blood? Here's what we know — and what we don't — about their friendship.
The singer has been pulled into Lively's legal battle with Justin Baldoni and it's reportedly caused turbulence among the pals.
Taylor Swift’s friendship circle has waxed and waned over the years, but Blake Lively has been a steady presence over the last decade.
Now, amid Lively’s high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit against director and co-star of It Ends With Us Justin Baldoni, who denies Lively’s allegations and countersued her for defamation, Swift has found herself pulled into the legal battle.
Baldoni’s attorney said he’s considering deposing Swift in the case, which is set to go to trial in March 2026. Since then, a chorus of purported Swift sources have been distancing the singer from the drama.
Among them, a Swift insider told Us Weekly that the singer had no creative involvement in the film, so “dragging Taylor into [the lawsuit] is unnecessary and misrepresents what really happened.” The same day, TMZ reported a Swift source saying she resents Lively leveraging her name.
Baldoni alleges in his lawsuit that Lively tried to wrest creative control of the film from him. Specifically, he claimed that Lively requested to rewrite a scene. While he allowed her to do a draft, it was “dramatically different” from what was scripted, so he thanked her for her input and said he’d try to incorporate part of it. He claimed that he didn’t hear from Lively for days until he was summoned to her New York City apartment. At that meeting, Baldoni claimed that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Swift praised Lively's version of the scene, making him feel obligated to adopt it.
Both sides have posted texts in support of their allegations. Baldoni’s included one that Lively allegedly sent him after that meeting, referring to herself as the Game of Thrones character Khaleesi, also known as Daenerys Targaryen, and describing Swift and Reynolds as her loyal “dragons.” She said Swift and Reynolds are her “trusted partners” in “anything creative I touch” and said they “loved and signed off on the pages” and it “didn’t feel great” to any of them that Baldoni wasn’t more eager to adopt her rewrite.
When did Swift, 35, and Lively, 37, become friends? How close are they? What is known about their current friendship status? Here’s everything we know.
2015: The new besties jump for joy in Australia
Swift, who’s known for her varied female friend group, and Lively were both down under at the same time and synced up for a day of cuddling koalas, riding rollercoasters and staging photo ops at the Warner Bros. Movie World in Queensland.
2016: Swift invites Lively to her holiday house
The singer’s Watch Hill, R.I., summer home, purchased in 2013, has been the setting of many a star-studded Fourth of July party, and Lively and Reynolds scored an invite that summer. While the “Bad Blood” singer’s relationship with Tom Hiddleston in that era was fleeting, what will live forever is a photo of Swift, Lively and Swift’s childhood friend Britany LaManna sitting on their respective partner’s lap in rocking chairs.
Swift borrowed a Deadpool costume from Reynolds to wear that Halloween.
2017: Swift puts Lively’s baby on ‘Gorgeous’ track
Lively and Reynolds were parents to two daughters at that point — James (b. 2014) and Inez (b. 2016) — and Swift used the elder child’s voice briefly to kick off her song “Gorgeous,” a Reputation track about her then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
When Reynolds and Lively heard “Gorgeous” live at a Swift concert a year later, they had a mini freakout. Lively later said on Good Morning America that the event was “very embarrassing,” joking that it was the “true, unfiltered version of our terrible stage-parent pride.”
RYAN REYNOLDS AND BLAKE LIVELY REACTION’S WHEN THEY HEAR THEIR DAUGHTER’S VOICE AT THE START OF GORGEOUS AT THE CONCERT OF TAYLOR SWIFT IS THE CUTEST THING pic.twitter.com/nTl4pDaOUK
— tiny t⎊ny (@woIvern) July 29, 2018
2019: Swift and Lively become the ultimate party pals
While Swift’s circle changed, she remained tight with Lively. They rang in the new year together at a costume party. Swift was dressed like Ariel from The Little Mermaid while Lively was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
When Swift turned 30 that December, Lively and Reynolds attended her birthday bash.
2020: Swift reveals the name of Lively’s third child in ‘Betty'
Lively and Reynolds kept the name of their third daughter’s name under wraps until Swift dropped that song on Folklore. James and Inez were also name-checked. Swift confirmed, “I named all the characters in this story after my friends' kids…”
2021: Swift and Lively collaborate professionally
Swift won Album of the Year at the Grammys in March and gave Lively and family a shout-out in her speech.
In an interview with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle, Reynolds called it “an honor” having Swift sing about his daughters. “We trust her implicitly,” he said. “We thought it was pretty, pretty damn amazing. We still do. You know, I still walk down the street and shake my head thinking, ‘I can’t believe that happened.’”
On Halloween, Swift went trick-or-treating with Lively, Reynolds and family in New York City. Shortly after, the couple attended the Saturday Night Live after-party with musical guest Swift.
Swift had Lively direct her music video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” which dropped Nov. 15. “I finally got to work with the brilliant, brave & wickedly funny @blakelively on her directorial debut,” Swift wrote on social media. “Join us as we raise a toast, and a little hell.”
2022: Swift and Lively are as tight as ever
Swift and Lively’s “I Bet You Think About Me” was nominated for ACM and CMA awards. When Swift won Favorite Pop Album at the ACM Awards, she shouted out “beautiful, brilliant friend” and video director Lively.
Lively announced she was pregnant with her fourth child in a post that included photos from a vacation at Swift’s summer house.
Reynolds said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight that he “would do anything” for Swift. “She’s a genius.” He said his whole house was “obsessed.”
2023: Lively and Reynolds meet Swift’s new man
Swift split from Alwyn and was supported by Lively and other members of her crew — Gigi Hadid and the Haim sisters — with girls’ nights in New York City.
When Swift kicked off her “Eras Tour” around that time, Lively — who had by then given birth to fourth child, son Olin — brought James and Inez to a show in Philadelphia.
By fall, Swift was dating Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. Lively and Reynolds were among a group to join Swift at a Chiefs game in October.
In December, Lively and Swift went together to the premiere of Beyoncé's Renaissance film.
Lively also helped Swift celebrate her birthday.
2024: Lively is Swift’s Super Bowl bestie
Kelce’s Chiefs were in the Super Bowl, so Swift was front and center with her crew, including Lively. The best pals hugged in the stands.
In July, Swift revealed that she’s godmother to Lively and Reynolds’s daughters.
When Deadpool & Wolverine came out in July, Swift posted on social media about Reynolds’s efforts, referring to him as “one of my best friends on the planet.” Lively’s film It Ends With Us came out in August amid headlines of behind-the-scenes drama with Baldoni.
Lively and Reynolds joined Swift and Kelce for a summer getaway in Rhode Island.
In December, Lively filed a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and said she experienced retaliatory behavior, including a public smear campaign, as a result of speaking out. Baldoni denied the allegations and accused Lively of defaming him.
Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and Swift was named twice in a planning document allegedly created by Baldoni’s PR team as a way in to plant negative stories about Lively. Baldoni sued the New York Times for a story they did about Lively’s complaint.
2025: Swift gets pulled into Lively and Baldoni’s court battle
Baldoni countersued Lively and Reynolds for defamation. Among his claims in the lawsuit was that Reynolds and Swift pressured him into accepting one of Lively's rewrites for the film.
There were also texts in which Lively referred to herself as Khaleesi and Swift as one of her “dragons.” It said that she and Reynolds were her “trusted partners” in “anything creative I touch” and said it “didn’t feel great” to them that Baldoni wouldn’t adopt Lively’s proposed script changes. Baldoni said it made him feel like he had to change the script.
Swift hasn’t publicly addressed the lawsuits, but in the wake of Baldoni’s attorney saying he hasn’t decided whether or not to depose Swift, sources in her camp have talked to media outlets.
Us Weekly had an insider say that Swift was “not a producer on the film and had no creative involvement. While she and Blake are friends, this case is now a legal matter for the courts to resolve. Dragging Taylor into it is unnecessary and misrepresents what really happened.”
A source told TMZ that Swift wasn’t happy Lively used her name with Baldoni and called the "dragon” reference “weird.” The source claimed Swift didn’t know Baldoni would be at Lively’s apartment when she arrived, and she barely spoke to him. The same outlet reported on Feb. 7 that Lively will not attend Sunday’s Super Bowl with Swift.
A Swift source told Page Six that she feels “used” by Lively.
Entertainment Tonight reported that Swift and Lively are still friends, but Swift is focused on her own life and doesn’t want to be pulled into Lively’s drama.
