Blake Lively, Taylor Swift’s texts reveal why their friendship began straining

Newly unsealed text messages between Blake Lively and Taylor Swift offer a rare and candid look into why the longtime friendship between the Gossip Girl alum and the global pop star began to unravel, according to court documents.

In one of the messages, Lively reached out to Swift with concern, writing that she had been “feeling like a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack who only talked about my own s--- for months.” She added that Swift had been “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.”

Swift’s response highlighted growing emotional distance and fatigue. Addressing the way Lively had been communicating, Swift wrote, “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.”

She explained that while there had been a lot going on, including Lively’s legal battles, herhad started to feel “like a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees,” and she said she missed her friend’s “funny, dark, normal‑speaking” voice had started to feel “like a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees,” and she said she missed her friend’s “funny, dark, normal‑speaking” voice. Swift added, “And you don’t need to apologize. Just come back please.”

Hours later, Lively acknowledged Swift’s point, admitting she had been “texting like I’m writing. Not like me talking.” She went on to explain that the emotional strain of recent events — particularly her dispute with Baldoni — had left her feeling misunderstood and uncertain of her own voice. “This f---ing guy and what he did to me gave me an identity crisis. Legitimately,” she wrote.

Earlier in the legal filings, Lively described Swift and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, as her protective “dragons” — a reference to a Game of Thrones metaphor she used to express how strongly she valued their support.

The text exchange provides context to years of public closeness between the two celebrities, who have been friends since the mid‑2010s and were often pictured together at events or supporting each other’s projects. However, sources previously said that the friendship had become strained amid Lively’s legal battle with Baldoni, which included allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation during filming of It Ends With Us, a countersuit, and other public legal maneuvers.

The newly revealed messages show both sides of the emotional exchange: Lively acknowledging how her way of communicating may have unintentionally strained the relationship, and Swift expressing a longing for the authentic, personal voice she had appreciated in their earlier friendship.

As the legal case continues to unfold with a trial scheduled for later this year, these text messages offer a deeply personal window into how external pressures and miscommunication can affect even long‑standing friendships at the highest levels of celebrity.