Last Updated:January 21, 2026, 23:41 IST

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift’s private text exchange, revealed in unsealed legal documents, sheds light on growing distance amid Lively’s legal battle.

The legal battle began when Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Justin Baldoni.(Photo Credit : X)

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift’s famously close friendship appears to have begun unraveling long before reports of a fallout surfaced publicly. Newly unsealed legal documents have now offered an unusually candid glimpse into the emotional exchange between the two stars, revealing how miscommunication, exhaustion and personal turmoil slowly created distance between them.

The text messages were included in documents unsealed on Tuesday, January 20, ahead of a summary judgment hearing in Lively’s ongoing lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, scheduled for January 22. While the messages do not explicitly name either woman, accompanying filings identify the exchange as a private conversation between Lively and Swift.

Blake Lively reaches out amid growing unease

In one message, Lively appears to sense a shift in their dynamic and reaches out to Swift with concern and vulnerability.

“I have no reason to ask, but I donno [sic], I’ve been feeling like I should… is everything ok? I felt like a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack who only talked about my own s— 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,” Lively writes, adding that her husband Ryan Reynolds encouraged her to check in directly.

She goes on to say, “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.”

More than an hour later, Swift replies, acknowledging the tension while downplaying any dramatic rupture.

“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,” Swift writes, noting she was nearing the end of her record-breaking 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.”

Swift’s message then turns strikingly honest, as she explains what had been bothering her emotionally.

“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 admits. “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…”

She adds that Lively’s need to overexplain, likely driven by feeling attacked from multiple sides, had unintentionally created distance. “And you don’t need to apologize. Just come back please.”

Hours later, Lively responds with self-reflection, admitting she had grown “digitally paranoid.”

“So yeah, I’ve been texting like I’m writing. Not like me talking. I didn’t realize that until you pointed it out, but I see it,” she writes, explaining that the situation had triggered an identity crisis. “This f—ing guy and what he did to me gave me an identity crisis. Legitimately.”

Lively also references the pain of losing other close relationships during the ordeal. “The thing that spooked me most in all this though, wasn’t the bad guys being bad guys. It was the good guys… who quietly dipped,” she tells Swift, adding that she felt deeply alone. She ends by apologizing and thanking Swift, while expressing excitement for her to finally finish the tour.

Sources have previously said the friendship became strained amid Lively’s legal battle with Baldoni, whom she has accused of sexual harassment and retaliation — allegations he denies. In texts previously cited in Baldoni’s countersuit, later dismissed, Lively referred to Swift and Reynolds as her “dragons”.