Taylor Swift’s attendance at Sunday’s Super Bowl has been confirmed, but it’s not known whether she’ll surround herself, as she did at last year’s NFL championship, with a crowd of celebrity girlfriends, particularly her embattled pal Blake Lively, as she cheers on boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs in their showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles.
If Swift decides to include Lively in her Super Bowl party, that choice will be taken as a sign that the women’s decade-long friendship remains strong — despite the pop mega-star being dragged into Lively’s sordid legal battle with Justin Baldoni, her director and co-star for the film “It Ends With Us.” Lively’s appearance in Swift’s VIP suite at New Orlean’s Caesars Superdome also could be the “Reputation” singer’s way of saying that she stands by her friend, as the actor pursues her sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni.
But if Lively doesn’t attend the game with Swift, the media and the masses are likely to pounce on her absence as a sign of trouble.
Over the past couple weeks, there have been back and forth reports about whether Swift has “distanced” herself from the “Gossip Girl” star. The Daily Mail reported that Swift is “taking a step back” from Lively, because she’s unhappy that she’s been identified in Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit as Lively’s “mega-celebrity” friend, who allegedly helped the actor and her husband Ryan Reynolds wrest control of the director’s movie.
Baldoni has alleged that Swift helped pressure him into complying with Lively’s re-write of a crucial scene in the domestic violence drama in which Lively and Baldoni play lovers. He said his encounter with Swift took place in April 2023 when he went to Lively’s Manhattan apartment to talk about her revisions. Reynolds also was there, and Swift later turned up.
Baldoni’s lawsuit shares follow-up text messages showing that he praised Lively for her revisions of the scene, but said he would have felt that way without input from “Ryan and Taylor.” The lawsuit also reveals a lengthy text exchange between him and Lively in which Lively likened herself to “Khaleesi,” the iconic “Game of Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen, and referred to Reynolds and Swift as her two “dragons.”
Being portrayed as an “intimidation tactic” in Lively’s conflict with Baldoni isn’t sitting well with Swift, a source told the Daily Mail.
“For the time being she is taking a step back from Blake because she doesn’t want to get tangled in this more than she already has – which is far more than she ever needed to be,” the insider said.
“Her friends also think that Blake’s ‘I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have dragons’ text to Justin was uncool and unnecessary because she was essentially used as an intimidation tactic,” the source said. “She was referred to as some kind of pet or possession.”
In Swift’s view, she “shouldn’t even be involved in this at all,” the insider said. On the night when Baldoni encountered Swift, she had gone to Lively and Reynold’s apartment with the expectation that Lively’s meeting with Baldoni would be finished.
Legal experts this week pointed out another reason Swift might not be happy with Lively right now. There’s a likelihood that Swift would have to sit for a deposition as part of pre-trial discovery, according to the co-hosts of TMZ’s new legal podcast, Two Angry Men. This is frightening prospect for an image-conscious celebrity because it means she would have to reveal details about her role in the legal saga, co-host Harvey Levin, TMZ’s founder and a long-time attorney, said.
The other co-host, celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, explained that a deposition is “one lawyer, who is adverse to you, taking your deposition. On camera. Without a judge to sustain objections. … You’ve got to answer everything, so every laundry list of dirty deeds that you have ever done could be fair game.”
Levin predicted that the fear of depositions would motivate Lively to settle, even on Baldon’s terms. Lively doesn’t “want to get deposed. She doesn’t want Ryan to get deposed, and she certainly doesn’t want Taylor to get deposed. And Taylor will put pressure on her for that.”
While being interviewed on the podcast, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman played coy about whether he would depose Swift. “I think that’s probably going to be a game-time decision.” But he added, “I can tell you this. Anyone that reasonably has information that can provide evidence in this case is gonna be deposed.”
With that, Levin declared, “That’s Taylor Swift. She was there for that meeting.” Freedman acknowledged: “She was there for that meeting.”
But The Sun reported offered another view of Swift’s feelings about Lively, reporting late last month that the “Bad Blood” singer still values Lively’s friendship and wants her at the Super Bowl. “Taylor would like to have some of her close friends and family all together and be there to show love and support her man,” an insider told The Sun. It’s also thought that Swift could take her mind off her legal battle with Baldoni by attending “one of the most significant sporting events on earth,” The Sun reported.
At last year’s Super Bowl, where the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, Swift enjoyed the company of Lively, Ice Spice, Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sherry, and her friend Ashley Avignone. The Sun reported that Swift wants some of those A-listers to join her for for this year’s game, and she might also invite Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez and her fiance Benny Blanco.
But as Elle pointed out this week, some people in Swift’s VIP suite won’t be known for sure until the game starts. Nonetheless, the names of some people who will be with her at the game have been confirmed by Travis Kelce’s brother, Jason. He told People magazine this week that Swift will be joined by him and other members of the Kelce family.
“Yeah, I think everybody’s coming in,” Jason Kelce said. “I mean, I don’t want to speak for everybody, but I think obviously, our whole family. … I mean, Trav always travels like, full,” he says of his younger brother.