Trending Now: ‘I’ll do anything for you’ – Fans React

What started as a series of awkward red carpet snubs during the “It Ends With Us” press tour has exploded into Hollywood’s most toxic legal showdown.

The battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is no longer just about creative differences, but now a high-stakes legal war involving unsealed texts, A-list cameos and allegations of “astroturfing”.

Here is everything you need to know about the latest developments as the pair heads toward a May 18 trial date.

The most viral development came on Tuesday, January 20, when a stock of private messages was unsealed during court proceedings.

The documents unexpectedly pulled multi-award-winning singer Taylor Swift into the chat, literally!

The texts reveal Swift acted as a confidante for Lively during the film’s production: “I think this b**** knows something is coming because he’s gotten out his tiny violin.” Swift wrote in one of the texts.

It further revealed details that Swift reportedly encouraged Lively to push for her own version of the script. In one message, Lively allegedly asked Swift to endorse her revised script “even without having read it”, to which Swift replied, “I’ll do anything for you!!”

Baldoni’s legal team is using these exchanges to argue that Lively and her inner circle engaged in a coordinated “mean girl” campaign to undermine his authority as a director.

During a summary judgment hearing last week, Lively’s legal team also shared more specific details of the harassment claims.

They allege that Baldoni created a “hostile work environment” by allegedly initiating an unscripted kiss that crossed Lively’s professional boundaries and by revisiting the infamous claim that Baldoni asked about Lively’s weight following her pregnancy – a claim he defended as a “back health” precaution for a lifting scene, but which Lively’s team classifies as “body shaming”.

The core of Lively’s $160 million lawsuit hinges on the claim that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios hired digital crisis firms to manipulate public opinion.

Her team argues that the wave of TikToks criticising her “tone-deaf” marketing (promoting her haircare line during a domestic violence film) was actually “astroturfed” by Baldoni’s PR team.

Baldoni’s defence remains that the public backlash was organic and a direct result of Lively’s own branding choices.

Another new development is that the tension wasn’t just between the leads.

Co-star Jenny Slate reportedly expressed her own frustrations in leaked emails, calling the atmosphere on set “disturbing” and describing Baldoni’s public persona as a “false ally”.

When the trial officially begins in May, the witness list could see Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds, Gigi Hadid, Hugh Jackman and even Swift called to testify on the culture of the production.