Things had been fairly quiet in the legal saga between It Ends With Us costars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively the last few months, but that changed earlier this week.
Lively scored a major win back in June when a federal judge dismissed Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against her. But now Baldoni is trying to get Lively’s case against him tossed, arguing there is no issue of material fact for a jury to decide and that the judge should end the case on summary judgment in his favor.
As part of Baldoni’s filings, a number of messages from A-list celebrities – including some mean girl chats between Lively and her former bestie Taylor Swift – were made public for the first time. On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by MK True Crime contributors Mark Eiglarsh and Mark Geragos to go through the messages and break down what it means for the case.
The Legal Saga
If you haven’t been following along, here’s the spark notes version of how we got here: Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024 claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her during the filming It Ends With Us – where he served as producer, director, and male lead – and retaliated against her after she raised issues about his on-set behavior. The following day, The New York Times published a detailed report sympathetic to Lively’s accusations.
On New Year’s Eve 2024, the actress formally filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against Baldoni, his publicist, his production company, and other defendants. That same day, Baldoni responded with a $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times for its reporting on Lively’s allegations. He followed it up in January 2025 with a $400 million suit against Lively, Reynolds, and their publicist, accusing them of extortion and defamation, among other claims.
In February 2025, both sides agreed they were not interested in mediation to settle the dueling lawsuits, and a judge scheduled a trial for spring 2026. In the meantime, Lively filed an amended complaint in New York federal court claiming multiple women felt uncomfortable on the set of It Ends With Us as a result of Baldoni’s behavior. Baldoni’s countersuit was tossed in June.
Fast forward to this week, his legal team filed a motion for summary judgment to avoid trial. Pending that decision, the trial is scheduled to begin May 18.
The Text Messages
A host of court documents were made public on Tuesday, and they featured previously unseen communications between Lively, her A-list friends, and others associated with the film. The messages, which were predominantly from 2024, featured exchanges about the work environment on set, Baldoni’s alleged behavior, and questions about how she could push for her edit of the movie to be used.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were two of the stars Lively sought advice from, but it was her texts with Swift that are getting the most attention. The duo traded barbs about Baldoni, with Lively referring to him as the “doofus director of my movie” and Swift calling him a “bitch.”
Alleged messages between the pair from 2023 shed additional light on Lively’s cringey texts to Baldoni in which she compared herself to Khaleesi in Game of Thrones. Baldoni was invited to Lively’s New York City penthouse, where Reynolds and Swift were present to gush about Lively’s rewrites to pivotal scenes in the movie.
After the encounter, Baldoni texted Lively that he liked her changes and said he would have felt that way regardless of Reynolds and Swift’s input. Lively allegedly responded with a lengthy note that read, in part: “I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine.”
And now we have insight into what Lively told Swift after the meet-up. “You were so epically heroic today,” she wrote. “You making shit up about me and lenses. And referring to yourself as my doll. This clown falling for all of it.”
When Baldoni tried to subpoena Swift in May 2025 her spokesperson issued a strong denial that the pop star had any involvement in It Ends With Us beyond licensing the song “My Tears Ricochet.” But the latest document dump appears to refute that claim.
Messages suggest Swift was aware of and actually quite knowledgeable about the civil rights complaint Lively eventually filed in December 2024. On December 5, 2024, Swift sent Lively a screenshot of a People article where Baldoni talked about a traumatizing experience with an ex-girlfriend. “I think this bitch knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin,” Swift wrote.
After the Times report was published, Swift texted Lively on December 21, 2024 to congratulate her. “You won… You did it,” she wrote. “And you fucking helped so many people who won’t have to go through this ever again. Never has a cancellation been reversed so fast.”
Time to Move On?
While Megyn expects the judge to deny the motion for summary judgement and doesn’t foresee a settlement between Lively and Baldoni, Eiglarsh and Geragos agreed that a trial is going to be a disaster for everyone involved.
“They’re both getting bloodied before we even pick a jury,” Eiglarsh said. “This is horrible for both of them.”
Geragos believes things will only get worse in the court of public opinion because cameras are not allowed in federal courtrooms. “If it’s not televised so that people get it unfiltered, there is no way to win,” he said. “I mean, one of the things that was brilliant, in some ways, about [Johnny Depp-Amber Heard case] was at least it was televised. You could see it and you had that kind of unspoken or unarticulated ability to sway public opinion.”
Megyn said both Lively and Baldoni have seen their careers take a hit from the drama, but she thinks the actress still has more to lose. “Whatever she thinks about her legal claims, she should get out of this,” she advised. “It doesn’t get better for her at trial at all. Even if she wins, that cross-examination is going to be the end of her.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Eiglarsh and Geragos by tuning in to episode 1,237 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.