With one comment, Taylor Swift was just brought back into the 'It Ends With Us' legal drama.

It's been more than a year since the release of It Ends With Us, a movie that kicked off one hell of a public and legal feud between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

Beginning with starring roles in the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel, It Ends with Us, which Baldoni directed, the tension between them has boiled over into a year-long legal battle with multiple lawsuits.

In December 2024, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and his producing partners, Wayfarer Studios, where she accused her co-star of sexual harassment, retaliation and a smear campaign, which he denied, and Baldoni filed a countersuit, where he accused Lively of defamation. However, that lawsuit was terminated in October.

Fast-forward to November 2025 and Baldoni's team filed a 73-page court document, asking a judge to dismiss Lively's claims against him. But, on December 4, 2025, Lively's team filed an opposition to this motion, arguing that the case should proceed to trial — which is set for March 2026.

Now, new details have come to light about a meeting between Baldoni and Lively during the time of filming, where the latter voiced concerns about the production of It Ends With Us.

Listen: A leaked email has reignited the Taylor Swift and Blake Lively drama. Post continues below.

'The Taylor Swift playbook.'

In documents obtained by US Weekly, Baldoni allegedly insinuated Lively was taking a page out of the "Taylor Swift playbook" by playing the "victim."

"She had the nuclear bomb," Baldoni said, according to the documents.

"If she doesn't promote the movie she can leak that I'm a bad person or that she felt unsafe with me and all the stuff she has on me. Then she's the victim. It's the Taylor Swift playbook. So she can ask for whatever she wants because she knows I know."

According to the publication, Baldoni defended these comments during his recent deposition, claiming his concerns were "reasonable" given the circumstances.

"I think when you are somebody small in the industry like myself, and you're dealing with a titan like Ms. Lively and some of the most powerful people in the world, which are her best friends, and you're in the situation that I was in, I think it's very reasonable, especially at this point, to be concerned about what's possible and what's not," he said, per the publication.

In his deposition, Baldoni also addressed another conversation with Lively from December 2022.

According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, three years ago, the actor was visiting Lively's New York City apartment when the topic of circumcision apparently came up. As per the publication, Baldoni admitted in court that he told Lively, who was pregnant with her son at the time, that he was circumcised.

Lively's attorney, Michael J. Gottlieb, then asked Baldoni if the actress ever directly asked him that question, to which Baldoni allegedly replied: "Directly, no."

When Gottlieb asked Baldoni who else was present for this conversation, Baldoni said "there were people going all around," including Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds at the Another Simple Favor premiere. Image: Getty.

"Mr Reynolds was in and out of the conversation," he said, according to PEOPLE. "She [Lively] had, I think, two nannies. I felt like there was a housekeeper there. Her assistant was walking around. I think she had two assistants there. Her and I were sitting on the couch, but there were people all around."

Baldoni then denied speaking about his genitalia to any other work colleagues.

In an amended complaint filed in January, Lively claimed she "was disturbed by the fact that Mr. Baldoni described his own genitalia," among other allegations, including that Baldoni "spoke about his pornography addiction; divulged information about his sex life; made derogatory, degrading, and sexual comments," and more.

The filing said that Lively "brought this lawsuit because she was one of the "women or two" that Mr. Baldoni "one million percent" made "made uncomfortable" on the set of the Film."

How did we get here?

These new details come a week after an email from Wayfarer Studios co-founder Jamey Heath to Baldoni's publicist was unsealed.

Sent in July 2024, the email allegedly relayed an incident that occurred in Lively and Ryan Reynold's New York City penthouse on April 25, 2023.

Both actor Hugh Jackman and Swift "were also present in the apt at the time."

In the recap, Baldoni claims Reynolds "unloaded" on him about "how horrible it was" that the director had asked about a woman's weight, claiming Baldoni "was fat-shaming Blake."

In response, Baldoni was "completely embarrassed and apologised and even shared some tears."

Both Swift and Jackman were previously listed as potential witnesses by Lively's legal team.

In another exhibit, footage from behind the scenes of It Ends With Us was unsealed, where Baldoni is heard joking with co-stars, Lively and Jenny Slate.

In the video, Baldoni says the word "sexy" while looking in Lively's direction, and turns to the camera and says, "Sorry, I missed the sexual harassment training," while he rolls his eyes.

The video was submitted as an exhibit in the Wayfarer parties' motion for summary judgment filed November 13. The video was filed in response to Lively's testimony of the interaction in an attempt to show that Baldoni was joking about the wardrobe for the scene.

"Video footage of the incident shows Lively was fully dressed in an oversized fleece 'onesie' at the time, that numerous actors and crew were also present and engaged in ongoing work at time, that Baldoni's facial expression was neutral and not ogling or suggestive, and that, after Baldoni apologised if his remark was inappropriate, Lively responded by saying 'All good,'" Baldoni's team wrote in filing.

Justin's legal team submitted more footage of an unscripted kiss between Lively and Baldoni. This was filed as evidence to show the actress had exhibited the same conduct she was accusing the director of during filming.

According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline, a never-before-seen deleted scene filmed back in May 2023 showed the actors in a hospital hallway when Blake improvised a brief kiss with Justin during filming.

Justin's team claimed the kiss was not part of the screenplay, adding that Lively "oversaw" and approved the scene, with the kiss "added to the script" herself. The clip was filed as an exhibit in the same motion on November 13.

In more leaked information, text messages between Baldoni and The Office actor, Rainn Wilson, surfaced.

In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Wilson and Baldoni, who have reportedly been friends for years, spoke about Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds' allegedly 'ambushing' Baldoni over his onset behaviour.

In the exchange, Baldoni said Reynolds confronted him over "creepy" behaviour on the set of It Ends With Us. "Oh my God. I can't believe it," Wilson replied. "You were set up and ambushed and personally attacked. I'm stunned. I completely relate to you being stunned, like a deer in the headlights."

Watch the hosts of The Spill unpack Lively's rumoured feud with Taylor Swift. Post continues after video.

In the group text exchange, Baldoni referred to the tense exchange as "one of the hardest nights of my life."

"My brain was trying to defend itself when they were needing me to apologise for all of the ways I have [f---ed] up and made her feel unsafe," he wrote, seemingly referring to Lively.

"Ryan was talking to me like a five-year-old and scolding me."

He continued, "It's hard to feel so much of what they believe about me is false because they are so convinced that it's real."

In the same November 13 filing, Baldoni requested the judge dismiss Lively's lawsuit, accusing the actor of sexually harassing and waging a smear campaign against her.

Baldoni's lawyer said he had already resolved Lively's concerns about "awkward comments" on the set of the film. They argued that Baldoni had a right to hire a crisis management firm to defend his reputation. "This is a dispute about Hollywood reputations, not genuine legal wrongs," the lawyers stated.

"No reasonable juror could find that the handful of comments and miscommunications Lively has mustered amounts to sexual harassment," they continued. "That Lively's reputation may have suffered is a result of her own ill-advised public statements and actions."

Blake Lively attends the It Ends With Us premiere in New York. Image: Getty.

In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni's team of executing a "carefully crafted, coordinated, and resourced retaliatory scheme to silence her, and others, from speaking out about the hostile environment."

It's been reported that Lively is seeking over $160 million ($246 million in AUD) in damages, claiming she lost millions of potential income and profits from both her haircare and beverage brands.

Baldoni's counterlawsuit against Lively was dismissed in June by a judge, and was fully terminated in October.

This followed on from June, when U.S. District Court Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed the core claims of the lawsuit. Judge Liman ruled that the claims Lively made in her initial complaint to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) were legally privileged (protected from defamation claims) because they were made as part of a formal legal proceeding.

The judge found that the other parties, including The New York Times, did not defame Baldoni because the plaintiffs failed to prove they had a reason to seriously doubt Lively's claims when they spoke about them.

Liman ruled that Baldoni's claims that Lively tried to gain creative control of the film by threatening to leave the project did not legally constitute extortion under California law.

While the judge initially dismissed the bulk of the lawsuit in June, he offered Baldoni's legal team a chance to amend and refile some claims, but the team ultimately missed the deadline to file an amended complaint.

As it stands, Lively and Baldoni's trial over the initial lawsuit is still set for March 9, 2026.

Feature Image: AP via AAP.

This article was originally published in November and has since been updated.