Blake Lively allegedly threatened to release a decade’s worth of Taylor Swift’s private text messages unless the singer publicly covered for her absence at the 2025 Super Bowl, the Daily Mail reports, in a revelation that sources say ended the women’s friendship for good.
Lively, 37, had been a fixture in Swift’s VIP suite at the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas, cheering alongside the singer as Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs played. The following February, when the Chiefs returned to the NFL championship game in New Orleans, Lively was gone from the guest list entirely — and sources say she was furious about it.
The Alleged Ultimatum
According to sources familiar with the fallout, Lively was so humiliated by being excluded that she allegedly demanded, through her legal team, that Swift post something on social media to explain away the absence and create the impression the two women were still close. The proposed message, insiders told the Daily Mail, would have read along the lines of: “So sad, my bestie couldn’t come to the Super Bowl.”
If Swift refused, the threat went, Lively possessed “ten years’ worth” of private text messages and conversations chronicling Swift’s failed romances and other personal moments — and she would release them.
“The threat to expose Taylor’s most intimate confidences unless she posted something to explain why Blake was missing at the Super Bowl was outrageous,” a source told the Daily Mail. “There was no going back from that.”
A source close to Lively pushed back on the account. “Blake has never threatened to leak Taylor’s personal or private text messages,” the source said. A representative for Swift declined to comment.
The Legal Paper Trail
The allegations connect to claims that surfaced during Lively’s lawsuit against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni. Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman alleged in a May 14 letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman that Lively’s lawyers had made “extortionate threats” to Swift’s law firm, demanding the singer “release a statement of support” for Lively, and that Lively had intimated that private texts “of a personal nature” would be released if Swift refused.
Lively’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb denied the allegations flatly. “This is categorically false. We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality,” Gottlieb said.
Freedman then filed a signed affidavit under penalty of perjury adding further detail. That affidavit was later withdrawn after the judge ruled it was “improper” and “irrelevant to any issue before this Court.”
Sources say Lively also asked Swift to delete the private messages exchanged between them. According to an insider, Lively’s concern was that the texts would “prove” there was “never any mention of any sexual improprieties” by Baldoni, even as she claimed to be a victim of his sexual harassment.
Swift’s Father Steps In
The Daily Mail previously revealed that the source behind the extortion allegations was Scott Swift, Taylor’s 74-year-old father. According to sources, Scott became alarmed that his daughter was being pulled into the legal war and decided to cooperate with Baldoni and Freedman as part of a deal that would see Baldoni’s team withdraw their subpoena for Taylor.
Freedman argued in court documents that the subpoena sought information “relating to witness tampering and evidence spoliation” — specifically that Lively had attempted to “coerce” Swift into publicly taking her side. Swift’s team responded to what the document described as Lively’s “inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats” in at least one written communication to Gottlieb.
In October, a judge dismissed Baldoni’s case. By May of this year, after a judge dismissed most of her own claims, Lively settled with Baldoni, then sued him for $8 million in legal fees. He is contesting that claim.
No Wedding Invitation
Any hope of a reconciliation was extinguished on July 3, when Swift married Kelce in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden. Adam Sandler officiated. Stevie Nicks and Paul McCartney performed, and the bride performed as well, surprising guests.
Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds were not on the guest list. A source told the Daily Mail that Lively is “sad and a little bit p***ed. No, a lot p***ed” and that the friendship is finished. While Swift celebrated in Manhattan, Lively and Reynolds were in Lake Placid, New York, watching their six-year-old daughter Betty compete in a horse show.
