The legal war between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively has taken a sharp turn, and this time it's not about dueling statements or carefully worded legal filings.
Baldoni's legal team has reportedly issued a subpoena to AT&T seeking call and text logs tied to Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, according to court filings that surfaced this week.
The move is part of an effort to substantiate claims about coordination between the couple and the media during the release of *It Ends With Us* last summer.
Lively's camp has pushed back hard, calling the subpoena an invasive fishing expedition designed to harass.
If you lost the thread: Lively filed a civil rights complaint in December alleging sexual harassment and a coordinated smear campaign by Baldoni and his studio, Wayfarer.
Baldoni answered with a $400 million defamation suit against Lively, Reynolds, and their publicist, arguing he's the one being painted as a villain in a narrative he says was manufactured behind the scenes.
Both sides deny wrongdoing, and nothing has been proven in court.
The subpoena matters because it signals the fight is shifting from PR to forensics.
Phone records, if obtained, could show who talked to whom and when — the kind of timeline evidence that tends to decide cases like this.
It also raises awkward questions about privacy that could cut both ways.
Every celebrity in Hollywood is now watching to see how far a judge lets this go.
Meanwhile, the court of public opinion keeps splitting.
On TikTok and X, fans have turned deposition dates into countdown clocks and courtroom sketches into meme fodder.
Some viewers who adored the movie now say they can't separate the film from the feud.
Others argue the whole thing has become a cautionary tale about how quickly a press tour can curdle into litigation.
A hearing on the subpoena is expected in the coming weeks, and depositions could stretch into the fall.
Neither side has shown any appetite for settlement.
If anything, the rhetoric has hardened — which means more filings, more leaks, and more headlines between now and any trial date.
For an industry that thrives on controlled narratives, this one has spun completely out of anyone's hands.
The only thing certain is that the receipts, literal and figurative, are coming. **Our take:** Hollywood feuds usually burn out fast, but this one has real legal stakes and no off-ramp.
Final Thoughts
Whatever a judge eventually rules, the reputational damage may already be permanent for everyone involved — and that's the part no subpoena can fix.