Inside Blake Lively’s inner circle amid It Ends With Us drama: Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid remain silent on row

Blake Lively has no shortage of shoulders to lean on as she battles fears of cancellation amid her alleged feud with It Ends With Us costar, Justin Baldoni. 

As she navigates substantial backlash over her ‘tone-deaf’ promotion of her new film, based on Colleen Hoover’s popular book of the same name, the actress, 36, is most likely leaning on her close inner circle, which includes her husband Ryan Reynolds, her longtime best friend Taylor Swift, Hugh Jackman, Gigi Hadid and sister Robyn. 

Following accusations that she didn’t properly address the film’s serious themes enough, particularly its depiction of domestic violence, the mother-of-four took to social media to share the National Domestic Violence Hotline number on Tuesday.

While her A-list friend group and family have followed her lead and stayed mum in the wake of the drama surrounding her and Baldoni, 40, the mother-of-four has fostered numerous close relationships in Hollywood.

‘[Female friendships] are everything to me. From my mom, to my children, my mother-in-law – she’s the best,’ Lively told OK! magazine earlier this month. ‘Female friendships are important.’

As she and Baldoni remain locked in a full-on PR war, DailyMail.com has rounded up all her loved ones that are undoubtedly standing by her side, at this time.

Taylor Swift

Despite their demanding schedules as two of the most in-demand entertainers, Taylor Swift and Lively have fostered a close friendship for the past nine years. 

Over the years, the singer, 34, has grown so close to the Gossip Girl alum and her husband, the couple selected her as their children’s godmother. 

The pair are regularly seen hanging out on fun girls nights, cheering on Swift’s man Travis Kelce at Kansas City Chiefs games and celebrating each other’s successes.   

The Bad Blood hitmaker has even included the names of Lively and Reynolds’ three eldest children in her track, Betty, off her 2020 album Folklore.

While accepting her third Album of the Year win back in 2021, she gave Lively’s kids a shoutout during her speech.

‘I want to thank James, Inez and Betty and their parents, who are the second and third people that I play every new song that I write,’ she gushed.

Over the past two years, Lively has taken her girls to multiple Eras Tour shows to see Swift perform live. 

Back in 2022, Swift tapped Lively to direct her music video for her song, I Bet You Think About Me.

Hugh Jackman

Lively became close friends with Hugh Jackman through her husband, who met the actor back in 2009 on the set of f X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

‘They are megawatt stars,’ Hugh recently told Vogue of the couple. ‘These are like old-school megawatt stars…and of course I’ve spent many hours with them, like in pajamas just hanging out in their house with their nine hundred children and dogs and it is just as normal as can be, and Blake will be baking and cooking and saying, “Let’s make pizza,” and then the next thing you turn around,’ he explained, referencing her glamming up for an event, ‘and there she is, this incredible star. It’s…it’s astonishing to me.’ 

Jackman even came to support Lively at the premiere of It Ends With Us, where he gushed about her on the red carpet. 

He described her as someone ‘who is comfortable in their own skin.’ 

‘You can’t make that happen. You can’t bestow it on someone. She says she’s shy. And I believe that. I think there’s a shyness there. I’ve seen it before. Nicole Kidman and others have it. There’s a shyness, and it leads into this ability to morph and shape-shift,’ he raved. 

He sweetly compared Lively to Elizabeth Taylor ‘at the height of her beauty.’ 

In October, he even joined her, Swift and Reynolds at a Kansas City Chiefs game. 

Gigi Hadid 

Hadid and Lively quickly formed a tight-knit friendship after meeting through their mutal pal, Taylor Swift in 2015. 

Last year, Hadid even joked about how they practically coparent their respective children in a sweet birthday tribute, uploaded to Instagram.

‘[You] are a magical friend and mamma — protective, warm, witty, thoughtful, talented, HOT!’ she captioned a sweet throwback from the early days of their friendship. ‘Ur made of all the good stuff like rainbow sprinkles and butter and bourbon whipped creme. And lobster salad. Lots of lobster salad.’ 

Lively reposted the image, noting that it was taken before ‘baby #3 for’ her and ‘#1 for’ Hadid. 

‘Coparenting with you whether you agree to raise my children or not is one of my life’s greatest joys. Love you, mama, sister, friend,’ she gushed. 

Back in 2019, Hadid said she was ‘grateful and lucky I am to have a friend like you’ in another birthday post for Lively. 

‘You are a real one and inspire me in so many ways. I will only be able to thank you enough by making you endless oatmeal griddle cakes and training your children to be world class disposable-camera photographers. I love you!’ she gushed. 

America Ferrera

Lively rose to fame alongside America Ferrera in her breakout role as Bridget Vreeland in the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Earlier this year, Lively paid tribute to their friendship by penning an essay as part of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2024 on Ferrera’s behalf. 

‘[F]or everyone who knows America as a person, we watched the world simply discover America. Our friend, our role model, our ally, our sister as she soared like only she does,’ Lively began. 

She continued: ‘That’s how she lives. How she speaks. How she challenges, and comforts. How she hurts, and heals. How she flies, and falls. How she loathes, and how she loves.’ 

The star went on to rave about their decades-long friendship after meeting on set as teens. 

‘I’ve known America for 20 years exactly,’ she marveled. ‘Since I was 16 years old, that girl, and now woman, has been the example of what a friend is. What an artist is. What a human is. And I thank her. For sharing her life with me, and her talent with us all.’ 

She concluded her essay by writing: ‘God blessed America, but really, we are the blessed ones to live in the same time as her and her imprint on our world.’ 

Earlier this year, Ferrera revealed the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants cast is still close and when they do get together it’s usually ‘in one of our apartments.’ 

‘It’s an amazing thing to have a friendship that makes you feel like you’re 20 but also has all the depth of being alive together through all of it. It’s an incredible blessing,’ she told People.

Florence Welch 

Lively revealed during a 2011 Glamour magazine interview that she first met Florence Welch as a fan. 

‘I feel like the story of our meeting should be a little more happenstance so I sound less like a stalker, but it’s not,’ she mused as the singer interviewed her. ‘My brother was obsessed with you. When he played your album for me, my jaw dropped.’

Days after hearing her music, Lively recalled purchasing tickets to see Welch at the Bowery Ballroom, where she was fatefully asked if she would like to go backstage.

‘I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I would love to meet this wonderful goddess!” And then you were the nicest person I’d ever met. I thought, I need to know her better,’ she recalled.

Welch added that after they spent New Year’s together in Las Vegas that ‘sealed the deal’ on their friendship. 

After hitting it off, Welch’s band, Florence + The Machine, even performed an acoustic version of Cosmic Love on an episode of Gossip Girl in 2011. 

A year later, Welch reportedly sang three songs at Lively’s wedding to Reynolds. 

Salma Hayek 

Salma Hayek and Lively’s friendship goes way back after meeting on set of the 2012 thriller film Savages.

The pair bonded over being foodies. 

‘We don’t stop eating. I don’t cook by recipe. I eat so much, I understand flavors and what goes well together,’ Lively gushed to USA Today, at the time. 

Meanwhile, Hayek explained as a Top Chef France viewer, she is a total ‘cook’ and loves to go to the market and ‘make whatever is in the refrigerator.’ 

‘I am an artiste,’ she said of her cooking skills.

Lively confirmed that ‘every time’ she goes to her former costar’s house ‘there’s such good food.’

In 2016, Hayek shared a sweet snap with Lively and several members of her family, including her mom Elaine and sister Robyn Lively, indulging in a dessert pizza.

‘Having a lively time eating chocolate marshmallow pizza with the Lively girls #girlsnightout @blakelively @robynlively #chocolate #pizza #marshmallow,’ she captioned the image. 

A year later, after working with Lively’s husband on The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Hayek sweetly cooked the pair and their daughter Inez dinner.

Jenny Slate

Lively and her It Ends With Us costar Jenny Slate’s friendship goes way back. 

The pair met while Lively was hosting Saturday Night Live back in 2009. 

‘I very much remember you were very, very nice. I think we were doing the Muppets or something for your opening number?’ Slate recalled to People. 

Lively described Slate to the outlet as ‘just so interesting’ and someone you can ‘talk to her for hours and hours and be infinitely interested.’ 

‘She’s also someone who what you see is what you get, in the most complimentary way. You’re not like, oh, she presents as this, and then you get to know her and there’s a totally different [side],’ the mother-of-four raved.

The actress went on to say that her pal is ‘very authentic’ and that’s ‘there’s no other side of Jenny.’ 

Slate noted they connect on ‘so many different things… especially being parents.’ 

Ryan Reynolds 

Lively and Reynolds have been happily married for 11 years after meeting on the set of Green Lantern in 2010. 

They started dating the following year, in October 2011 and tied the knot on September 9, 2012 in South Carolina.

The power couple share four children together: daughters James, nine, Ines, seven, and Betty, four as well as their son, Olin, who was born in February 2023. 

Earlier this month, she revealed to People that before they had kids, her husband would gift her a bouquet of flowers each week with a personalized note. 

‘When my husband and I first got together, he would send me a bouquet of flowers every week but he would always send a card and it would just be a sentence of something that had happened that week. Something funny or emotional that one of us said,’ she recalled. 

Lively, then, quipped; ‘It was just a little quote of the week. It was such a beautiful, romantic thing. Now we have 4,000 children!’

Emily Blunt and John Krasinski

Lively and Reynolds have been open about their close friendship with John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.

In addition to going on double dates with each other, the pals lucked out by having children, who are close in age and friends with one another. 

‘My kids are obsessed with his kids. They’re all friends and they hang out,’ Reynolds told ET in May.

Robyn Lively 

Robyn Lively is extremely close to her older sister, Robyn Lively. 

‘There’s a significant age gap which feels almost nonexistent because she’s now a mom,’ Robyn previously told Fox News Digital. ‘We have so many similarities. Our relationship is on a deeper level.’

She continued: ‘We used to help each other with our projects and lines, things like that. Now we’re doing the mom thing together.’ 

Robyn’s husband, Bart Johnson, agreed, noting they are ‘like the same person’ and ‘got the same energy and the same sense of humor.’

‘They’re also so connected and love each other so much,’ he raved. ‘[Robyn and Blake] share the love and the passion for motherhood. They’re best friends. It’s such a charming friendship. It’s a beautiful thing.’