Taylor Swift can be deposed, but has no role in Blake Lively-Justin
Baldoni litigation, lawyer says
[September 13, 2025]
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — Singer Taylor Swift can answer questions in October — if
she is forced — from attorneys involved in the sexual harassment and
retaliation lawsuit actor Blake Lively brought against Justin Baldoni
stemming from their roles in the movie “It Ends With Us,” but she
doesn't have much to offer, her lawyer said Friday.
Attorney J. Douglas Baldridge noted in a letter to the New York federal
judge presiding over the dispute that "we have consistently maintained
that my client has no material role in this action.”
“Further, my client did not agree to a deposition, but if she is forced
into a deposition, we advised (after first hearing about the deposition
just three days ago) that her schedule would accommodate the time
required during the week of October 20 if the parties were able to work
out their disputes,” Baldridge said.
Lively sued Baldoni last December, alleging sexual harassment. Baldoni
and production company Wayfarer Studios countersued Lively and her
husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and
extortion. A judge dismissed Baldoni’s claims in June.
Attorney Matthew Bruno, representing Lively and citing the period when
depositions can be taken nearing an end, complained in a letter to the
judge Friday about Baldoni attorneys, calling it “grossly irresponsible
to delay scheduling the deposition of a witness of this kind until the
last minute.”
Bruno said a late-October deposition of Swift and subsequent necessary
delays could jeopardize a March trial date.
“We do not consent to any depositions — let alone depositions of third
parties with only tangential relevance to the claims or defenses in this
case — being taken weeks after the close of fact discovery,” he wrote.
In a letter on Thursday, Baldoni's lawyers said they were not seeking a
month-long extension of deadlines to interview prospective witnesses,
but wanted only to depose Swift, who could only submit to a deposition
from Oct. 20 to Oct. 25 “due to Ms. Swift's pre-existing professional
obligations.”
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Blake Lively is seen in New York on Feb. 16, 2025, left, and Justin
Baldoni attends a screening in New York on Dec. 13, 2023. (Photos by
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
 They said Swift had agreed to appear
for a deposition but only after Oct. 20.
In her lawsuit, Lively accused Baldoni and the studio of embarking
on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a
meeting in which she and Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual
harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni.
When Baldoni's countersuit was dismissed, attorney Bryan Freedman
said in a statement that Lively’s claims that she was sexually
harassed on the film set, and then subjected to a secret smear
campaign intended to taint her reputation, were “no truer today than
they were yesterday.”
“It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling
2016 novel that begins as a romance but takes a dark turn into
domestic violence, was released in August 2024, exceeding box office
expectations with a $50 million debut. But the movie’s release was
shrouded by speculation over discord between Lively and Baldoni.
Lively appeared in the 2005 film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants” and the TV series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012 before
starring in films including “The Town” and “The Shallows.”
Baldoni starred in the TV comedy “Jane the Virgin,” directed the
2019 film “Five Feet Apart” and wrote “Man Enough,” a book
challenging traditional notions of masculinity.
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