Taylor Swift’s spokesperson has accused director Justin Baldoni of using her as “tabloid clickbait” in his legal feud with actor Blake Lively after the pop star was summoned to court.

Swift has been subpoenaed as a witness by Baldoni’s lawyer over conflict in the making of the movie It Ends With Us, starring Swift’s gal pal Lively.

The involvement in the dispute of one of the most famous people in the world ramps up the intensity of the multimillion-dollar trial, which is expected to start in March 2026.

Deadline revealed that Swift was subpoenaed last week by Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, executives for his Wayfarer Studios, plus publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel.

A spokesperson for the Shake It Off singer issued a statement to Good Morning America, distancing herself from the movie.

“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history.”

Swift’s spokesperson said her only involvement was permitting the use of one song My Tears Ricochet.

“Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case,” said the spokesperson.

Lively’s spokesperson accused Baldoni and his legal team of turning their legal fight into “entertainment for the tabloids”.

“Going as far as suggesting that they sell tickets to a concert venue — Madison Square Garden — to witness Ms Lively’s deposition, to subpoenaing Taylor Swift, a woman who has given a voice to millions the world over,” said Lively’s spokesperson.

“This is a very serious legal matter, not Barnum & Bailey’s Circus. The defendants continue to publicly intimidate, bully, shame and attack women’s rights and reputations.

“Including in the past month seeking to strike down for all, a powerful California victims’ rights law, calling it “unconstitutional.

The disturbing actions by a billionaire, men who made their careers as ‘female allies’ and their team continue to show their true colours,” the statement continued.

Lively accused her It Ends With Us director and co-star Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint in December 2024.

Baldoni hit back in January 2025, filing a civil lawsuit against Lively and her actor husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging extortion and defamation.

Baldoni is also suing the New York Times, seeking $250 million in damages, for libel and invasion of privacy for publishing details of Lively’s complaint.

In her complaint, Lively accuses Baldoni and the studio of embarking on a “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation following a meeting in which she and her husband Ryan Reynolds addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.

The plan, the complaint said, included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories critical of Lively.

The complaint also says Baldoni “abruptly pivoted away from” the movie’s marketing plan and “used domestic violence ‘survivor content’ to protect his public image.”

Launching his own counter-lawsuit, Baldoni said the claims were “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.

In Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively, it detailed a text message he allegedly received from Lively in which Baldoni claims she referred to Swift and her husband Ryan Reynolds as her “dragons.” According to his complaint, it argues that Lively leveraged her relationship with high profile individuals like Swift and Reynolds to exert her influence over the film.

Freedman pushed back against Lively’s allegations of a coordinated campaign, saying the studio “proactively” hired a crisis manager “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms Lively during production.”

He said Lively threatened to not appear on set and not promote the film “if her demands were not met”. Those demands were not specified in the statement.

“I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted,” Lively said in a statement to the Times.

It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was released in August, exceeding box office expectations with a $US50 million ($80 million) debut.

But the movie’s release was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centrestage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.

Baldoni — who starred in the telenovela send-up Jane the Virgin, directed Five Feet Apart and wrote Man Enough, a book pushing back against traditional notions of masculinity — did respond to concerns that the film romanticised domestic violence, telling the AP at the time that critics were “absolutely entitled to that opinion.”

“If anybody has had that real-life experience, I can imagine how hard it would be to imagine their experience being in a romance novel,” he said.

“To them, I would just offer that we were very intentional in the making of this movie.”

-with AAP