Being snapped hand-in-hand on nights out in New York City with former bestie Taylor Swift and their girl squad is now a distant memory for Blake Lively.
So too is cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs in a stadium suite or partying at one of the pop megastar’s famous Fourth of July blowouts.
These days, Lively’s is a more hermetic existence: baking cakes, taking quiet vacations to the Cotswolds in Britain, avoiding drama at all costs.
Lively’s months-long legal rollercoaster with her It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, 42, has unsurprisingly taken its toll on the 38-year-old actress and mother-of-four, who some believe is fading under public scrutiny.
So much so that we are told Lively and her actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, have considered a relocation to the UK in a bid to escape the ongoing backlash against them in America and revive Lively’s once-stellar reputation.
‘I think she’s just so tired,’ one insider told the Daily Mail. ‘This has taken a lot out of her. She’s just not always there when you talk to her.’
Blake Lively’s months long legal rollercoaster with her former It Ends with Us co-star Justin Baldoni has taken its toll on the actress, who is said to be fading under the scrutiny
‘Blake and Ryan have even discussed moving to the UK,’ said a second insider. The couple are often pictured cheering on his Welsh football club Wrexham AFC. Lively is seen with Reynolds and his Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney
Unlike so many marriages in Hollywood, Lively and Reynolds seemed to truly have it all. Married for 12 years with four children, a bevy of A-list pals, a collective catalog of blockbusters, a handful of lucrative side hustles and a combined net worth of around $600 million.
But that perfect existence started to crumble when, on December 31, 2024, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her.
Soon followed a 4,000-word New York Times exposé based on many of her claims.
Baldoni, who was swiftly dropped by his talent agency William Morris Endeavor and his production company Wayfarer Studios, retaliated with a blistering countersuit against Lively and Reynolds, accusing their team of attempting to torpedo his career and asking for $400 million in damages. All parties denied the allegations against them.
Baldoni even dragged Lively’s close friend Swift, 36, into the legal circus, claiming in his filing that Lively attempted to intimidate him when the singer, who allowed her 2020 song My Tears Ricochet to be used in the movie, turned up at a private meeting about edits that Lively had made to a rooftop scene.
A trial date was set for March 9, 2026, but was later pushed to May 18.
Then came a series of acrimonious pre-trial hearings. Baldoni’s team launched an online archive of all the evidence on his side. Lively and Reynolds sent out several subpoenas. Their publicist Leslie Sloane wanted out and the actress hired crisis PR veteran Nick Shapiro. Swift was subpoenaed before having it dropped days later.
Baldoni’s case was dismissed in its entirety in June 2025. There was hope of a settlement in December, but these talks failed.
Swift was dragged back into the drama in January when unsealed text messages were released showing Lively asking her to endorse a revised version of the script she was proposing, with Swift allegedly replying: ‘I’ll do anything for you!!’ This called into question her publicist’s denial that she had any creative involvement in the movie.
Lively, 38, and Taylor Swift, 36, used to hang out regularly, but after she was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s team and dragged reluctantly into the case, the pair have not been pictured together. They are seen in here in New York in 2023
On December 31, 2024, Lively sued Baldoni, co-star and director of It Ends With Us, which was released that summer
Other messages allegedly show the women plotting to help Lively usurp Baldoni, with Swift referring to him as a ‘b***h’ who got out his ‘tiny violin.’
Swift and Lively used to hang out regularly, but after the singer was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s team and dragged reluctantly into the case, the pair have not been pictured together.
Earlier this month, Judge Lewis Liman dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claim along with all claims against Baldoni personally. Just three of her 13 claims remain. She vowed to keep fighting in a statement.
But that fight is proving exhausting, with Lively and Reynolds ‘not as playful as they used to be,’ according to our insider who claimed it is ‘like a light has dimmed.’
‘They used to have big dinner parties and I don’t think they’ve had them for a while now,’ the source said. ‘I think it’s just too much for her. I don’t think they’re being very social these days. No one is saying they have problems, but they’re just preoccupied and I think it’s all about the case. It’s stressful.’
The rancorous battle has seemingly taken its toll on Lively’s career, with the actress no longer attached to certain projects she had previously been tied to.
‘Blake isn’t getting the offers and there hasn’t been anywhere near the same interest in her since the Baldoni drama exploded,’ said a second insider. ‘She’s burned bridges and most people in the industry seem to be steering clear.’
Her turn as Lily Bloom in It Ends with Us was supposed to mark her big comeback after she took a hiatus to raise her and Reynolds’ children: daughters James, Inez and Betty, and son Olin.
Before this, she had been plotting away in the background, co-founding production company B for Effort with Kate Vorhoff in March 2020 under her married name, Blake Reynolds.
The rancorous battle has seemingly taken its toll on Lively’s career, with the actress no longer attached to certain projects she had previously been tied to
Lively, who held the position of CEO, CFO and secretary, soon started announcing a slate of TV and film projects in quick succession – Dark Days at the Magna Carta, The Making Of, Lady Killer and We Used to Live Here – but nothing came to fruition, with many still in the treatment stages and updates dating back to January 2025, according to IMDb.
But it’s not just her production company projects that appear to have hit the brakes. Lively was attached to sci-fi thriller Proxy in February 2022, but she is no longer listed on the project on IMDb.
In April 2022 it was also announced that she was to make her feature directorial debut with Seconds – an adaptation of the graphic novel. A script had been completed, according to IMDb, but, like many of her other projects, there has been no update since January 2025.
Even more elusive is her purported role in the upcoming adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s thriller The Husband’s Secret. She was announced to play the lead back in 2017, but in August 2024, the Australian author threw cold water on the casting.
‘Blake Lively was attached to it, but I don’t know if she’s now detached,’ she revealed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
The only project that does seem to be moving forward is The Survival List, a rom-com which she will star in and produce.
‘It definitely appears grim for her work wise in the States, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change anytime soon either,’ our insider said. ‘It feels like she’s been shunned by the industry.
‘I think she’s just so tired,’ one insider told the Daily Mail. ‘This has taken a lot out of her. She’s just not always there when you talk to her’
‘Blake and Ryan have even discussed moving to the UK. But what’s making them take a long, hard look at their immediate future is that their kids’ schooling and friends are in the States. Blake truly is an amazing mother. If it wasn’t for their children, they may consider relocating to the UK or at least splitting their time more between there and the US.’
With Reynolds’ ties to Wrexham AFC, the Welsh football club he co-owns with fellow actor Rob McElhenney, a move would make sense.
‘With Ryan’s huge success with Wrexham, he has a great affinity for the UK,’ the insider said. ‘Blake could rebrand there and believes there are top of the line filmmakers who could give her a second chance.’
It is possible that Lively and Baldoni will reach a settlement before the trial. But even if it does move forward and Lively wins, the victory may not be enough to revive her reputation.
‘It doesn’t matter which way the jury sways, it’s doubtful she will regain her reputation,’ our insider said.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Lively and Reynolds for comment.
