Inside Blake Lively and Taylor Swift's Friendship Amid the 'It Ends With Us' Legal Turmoil

Does Taylor Swift like her friends "CANCELLED!"?

Long before the It Ends With Us drama spiraled, the singer and her longtime pal Blake Lively frequently flaunted their friendship online and during public outings. They were said to have connected in 2015 after the Gossip Girl alum referenced Swift's "Bad Blood" music video in an Instagram photo featuring a L'Oréal campaign.

"Soooo, turns out this WASN'T a video shoot for John Legend's cover of Bad Blood," Lively wrote at the time. "@lorealparisofficial blew it out for this one. My #pinkobsession is exposed now. Ok your turn. I won't tell! #AlsoTurnsOutJohnLegendIsntCoveringBadBlood Time to start a petition!"

That same year, they spent time together at Warner Bros. Movie World theme park in Queensland during the Australian leg of Swift's 1989 tour.

Since then, Lively and Swift had regularly been seen together at parties, events and shows.

In November 2017, the "Tortured Poets Department" singer released her Reputation track "Gorgeous," which featured the voice of Blake and Ryan Reynolds' elder daughter James Reynolds. The album's booklet later confirmed the contribution by including the text, "Baby intro voice by James Reynolds."

James, alongside her siblings Inez and Betty Reynolds, was also featured in Taylor's song "Betty" from her Grammy-winning album Folklore.

"Betty, I know where it all went wrong," she sings.

Other lines include "You heard the rumors from Inez / You can't believe a word she says" and "She said, 'James, get in, let's drive."

"I named all the characters in this story after my friends' kids... and I hope you like it!" Taylor said in an interview.

Additionally, Ryan confirmed in a November 2024 interview that Taylor is the godparent to his daughters with Blake.

Blake and Taylor displayed their closeness while supporting each other's endeavors.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star notably directed "I Bet You Think About Me" music video from Taylor's Red (Taylor's Version). The directorial debut earned an ACM Award nomination and marked Blake's first The Country Music Association nomination.

A few months later, in June 2022, Blake attended the screening of her pal's All Too Well: The Short Film during the 2022 Tribeca Festival.

The A Simple Favor actress also showed support for Taylor at one of the latter's Eras Tour stops and watched Kansas City Chiefs games with her. In between the events, they were regularly spotted grabbing dinner together.

Amid Blake's ongoing legal showdown with her It Ends With Us costar Justin Baldoni, a source close to Taylor said the pair's friendship had "halted."

"Taylor wants no part in this drama," the source told People.

A separate insider clarified that, while Blake and Taylor were "not no longer friends," they were reportedly "taking some space" amid the drama.

This echoed a separate source's comment to People in August 2025, saying they were "not speaking" amid rumors that some of the tracks from The Life of a Showgirl could be about Blake.

For instance, Taylor sings in her track "Cancelled!": "Did you make a joke only a man could? / Were you just too smug for your own good? / Or bring a tiny violin to a knife fight? Baby, that all ends tonight."

"Good thing I like my friends cancelled / I like 'em cloaked in Gucci and in scandal," she continues.

Speculation that the track could be about Blake and Justin resurfaced after court documents — where Taylor called the actor-director a "b----" who got out of his "tiny violin" — were unsealed ahead of the May trial.

The unearthed text messages may have ruined Blake and Taylor's friendship even further.

In a text exchange included in the hundreds of exhibits, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee actress asked Taylor if everything was okay before her final Eras Tour show since she "felt like a bad friend lately."

"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. But I still have a feeling something may not be right. I told Ryan. He said to just ask you. But I felt so stupid and like it sounded needy and awkward for everyone, especially be I can't explain why I have this feeling," she continued. "And you know I have toxic masculinity so I can't be needy. But also, I do want to know everything is good so I'm asking."

Blake told the "Opalite" singer she wanted to be a "better friend" if "there's something [she] unintentionally did."

She ended the message by reminding Taylor, "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."

Per the documents, Taylor told Blake she was "not wrong" and that she "feels distanced from [Blake] even more than [they] are geographically."

"And I know you feel attacked from all sides for ridiculous reasons so you're feeling like you have to overly explain things or be overly nice or whatever but. It's me! That's just caused a little distance. And you don't need to apologize. Just come back please," the alleged text from Taylor continued.