Blake Lively and Taylor Swift just gave us a masterclass in confronting a friend with kindness.

Unsealed, private celebrity texts, were just made public.

Texts between two friends — Blake Lively and Taylor Swift — published due to the ongoing legal drama between Lively and her It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni, whom she accused of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her — claims he strongly denies.

We were never supposed to see these texts. They were forced to be shown as evidence. But the most interesting thing about them has nothing to do with Baldoni, or It Ends With Us.

Yes, it's undeniably fascinating to be a fly on the wall during a very public, very messy celebrity legal stoush (I'm also lowkey obsessed with Swift accusing Baldoni of playing the "tiny violin").

But the real takeaway here doesn't centre on a man at all.

It's about friendship. And more specifically, it's about what you do when you feel that friendship splitting and faltering.

Listen to The Spill's Morning Tea unpack the Blake Lively and Taylor Swift texts about Justin Baldoni. Post continues below.

Personally, I'm a people pleaser. The second I sense a shift in my friend's tone, my stomach drops. I start replaying conversations, over-analysing punctuation, convincing myself I've done something wrong.

"They must hate me."

"What did I do wrong?"

Confrontation, for a long time, felt like a dangerous option. Something that would either blow up a friendship entirely or confirm my worst fears. So like many of us, I avoided it.

Because in my experience, friendships don't usually end with calm and honesty. They end in silence, resentment or one dramatic blow-up.

Someone drifts away. Someone gets a boyfriend and disappears. Someone stops replying and one day you realise you're no longer in each other's lives.

But there's a beautiful, raw, 'in-between' I didn't realise existed.

Whether or not Lively and Swift's friendship weathered this storm in the long-term remains to be seen, but their unsealed messages are a masterclass of that 'in-between'.

It's not passive-aggressive or defensive. It's two women choosing to say the awkward thing out loud, because they care enough to try. To approach a difficult conversation with kindness.

The text messages in the legal docs don't use the stars' names, but People reports other documents in the filings describe the exchange as a conversation between the two.

Lively opens by checking in on their friendship — a relatable message for the overthinkers among us.

"I have no reason to ask, but I donno [sic], I've been feeling like I should," she began.

"I felt like a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack who only talked about my own s**t for months. You were generous to not only be the key person there for me during all of it, but also to let me off the hook for being so in it.

"I always want the opportunity to be a better friend if there's something I unintentionally did. I know how busy and taxed you are — physically, emotionally, practically, so I don't expect any more from you ever… Just want to make sure all is good."

Lively is clearly making space for Swift to share her feelings openly and honestly. And it's an opportunity Swift takes up.

She doesn't just brush it off. She doesn't say "all good" just to keep the peace. And she doesn't punish Lively for asking.

Swift responded that Lively was "not wrong, but it's also not a big deal."

"I think I'm just exhausted in every avenue of my life and in recent months had been feeling a little bit of a shift in the way you talk to me," said the singer, who was days away from finishing her time on the Eras Tour.

"Yes there has been a lot of Justin stuff but I've been through things like this before and I know how all consuming it is.

"It's more like... and I feel really bad saying anything about this because your texts have been so nice in their intent but your last few... it's felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees," Swift added.

"And it feels awful to be in any way critical of any way you process what you've been going through, but I just kinda miss my funny, dark, normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself... And I know you feel attacked from all sides for ridiculous reasons, so you're feeling like you have to overly explain things... but. It's me! That's just caused a little distance. And you don't need to apologize. Just come back please."

It's that last line that hits home for many of us: "Just come back please." It's an honest truth followed by an olive branch.

This doesn't need to be an explosive end to a friendship, just something to learn and grow from.

Watch The Spill hosts chat about Blake Lively and Taylor Swift. Post continues below.

Lively, in turn, responded and acknowledged her behaviour and Swift's support.

"So yeah, I've been texting like I'm writing. Not like me talking. I didn't realise that until you pointed it out, but I see it," Lively said.

"On top of that, I'm over packaging simple things bc I've felt so deeply misunderstood that I don't trust my judgement of myself anymore... This f***ing guy and what he did to me gave me an identity crisis. Legitimately."

Lively also referenced the 'friends' who hadn't supported her when the It Ends With Us drama came to light.

"The thing that spooked me most in all this though, wasn't the bad guys being bad guys," she told Swift.

"It was the good guys, my lifelong friends — allies to women — who quietly dipped. And so I'm probably being over the top with my friends who stayed because I've never felt more alone."

This exchange doesn't fit the narrative the media so often wants. The enemy ex-best-friend. The salacious scandal.

We're conditioned to expect women, especially famous women, to fall out loudly. To feud. To choose sides. A celebrity catfight is neat, dramatic and clickable.

This is awkward, human and mature.

And maybe that's why it feels so refreshing.

It's a reminder that confrontation doesn't have to be cruel or catastrophic. You can tell your friend how you feel without it becoming a character assassination. Because real friendships can withstand honesty, even when it's uncomfortable.

Because true friends don't disappear at the first sign of tension. They say the thing — kindly, respectfully — and give each other the chance to come back.

And we could all use a little more of that.

Feature image: Instagram.