Taylor Swift friendship with Blake Lively ‘strained’ amid Justin Baldoni drama

Taylor Swift’s friendship with Blake Lively is definitely “strained” amid the latter’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni, in which the pop superstar has been subpoenaed.

A source told Us Weekly that the stars’ “friendship is not what it used to be” and they’ve stopped chatting on a regular basis and when they “have talked … it’s strained.”

A Lively insider said the pair “needed space” in the immediate aftermath of the Gossip Girl alum, 37, accusing her It Ends With Us director and co-star Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment and waging a subsequent smear campaign.

Baldoni denies Lively’s claims and in January filed a US$400mil countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane. Baldoni accuses the trio of defamation and civil extortion.

In texts referenced in Baldoni’s suit, Lively appears to refer to the 35-year-old Grammy winner and the Deadpool star, 48, as her “dragons.”

The insider said that Swift, who is godmother to Lively’s three daughters and has named them all in songs, “is very uncomfortable about being pulled into the lawsuit.

“It’s a huge thing now. Her friendship with Blake is strained,” the source continued.

Another source told Us Weekly that the singer “isn’t worried about the subpoenas” but was “shocked to be referred to in work messages sent to Blake’s director and to be brought into this.”

The remarks come just days after Swift was subpoenaed as a witness in the case, which is headed to trial next March. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service