As Taylor Swift celebrated her union with NFL star Travis Kelce alongside around 1,000 of their closest friends and family, there was one (seemingly) notable absence.
On Thursday, as workers carried props, food and pink carpet into Madison Square Garden, the pop star’s longtime friend Blake Lively, 38, was spotted with husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, hundreds of miles away in Lake Placid, New York, at their daughter’s horse show.
This was the same day that Swift and Kelce were said to be hosting their rehearsal dinner, with Swift’s close friends Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff among the guests spotted arriving at the venue.
Then, on Friday, hundreds more celebrities were seen making their way into the stadium and then leaving in the early hours of Saturday morning, among them Hugh Grant, Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper, Gracie Abrams, Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn, Ellie Goulding, the Haim sisters and Graham Norton.
Yet Lively and Reynolds weren’t spotted by photographers, social media, fans or the hundreds of news outlets that have been reporting on the celebrations in the heart of New York City.
Swift is godmother to Lively and Reynolds’ children and has featured or referenced them in several of her songs.
The pair were once photographed together regularly, attending dinners in the city. They were also pictured in a box together at the 2024 Super Bowl, cheering on Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs as they beat the San Francisco 49ers.
The Independent has contacted Lively’s representatives for comment.
Swift and Lively’s friendship was put under strain in 2025 when the pop star’s name was dragged into Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni.
The actor and producer, who directed Lively in the much-maligned 2024 film It Ends With Us, accused her, Reynolds and their publicist of attempting to destroy his career in a January 2025 counter-suit filed after Lively sued him for sexual harassment and a campaign to destroy her reputation.
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Amid legal proceedings in January, texts between Lively and Swift were unsealed – among them two long notes from December 2024 that suggested their friendship dynamic had shifted.
“Hey, just checking in,” Lively writes. “I have no reason to ask, but I donno, l’ve been feeling like I should… is everything OK? I felt like a bad friend lately because I was such a sad sack who only talked about my own s*** for months. You were generous to not only be the key person there for me during all of it, but also to let me off the hook for being so in it. But I still have a feeling something may not be right.
“I told Ryan. He said to just ask you. But I felt so stupid and like it sounded needy and awkward for everyone, especially be I can’t explain why I have this feeling. And you know I have toxic masculinity so I can’t be needy. But also, I do want to know everything is good so I’m asking. I always want the opportunity to be a better friend if there’s something I unintentionally did. I know how busy and taxed you are – physically, emotionally, practically, so I don’t expect any more from you ever. Just want to make sure all is good.”
“No you’re not wrong, but it’s also not a big deal,” Swift replied. “I think I’m just exhausted in every avenue of my life and in recent months had been feeling a little bit of a shift in the way you talk to me. Yes there has been a lot of the Justin stuff but I’ve been through things like this before and I know how all consuming it is. It’s more like… and I feel really bad saying anything about this because your texts have been so nice in their intent but your last few… it’s felt like I was reading a mass corporate email sent to 200 employees. You said the word ‘we’ like 18 times.
“And it feels awful to be in any way critical of any way you process what you’ve been going through but I just kinda miss my funny, dark, normal-speaking friend who talks to me as herself, not like. A plural unit. When it’s a group l’m hearing from.
“I feel distanced from you even more than we are geographically. And I know you feel attacked from all sides for ridiculous reasons so you’re feeling like you have to overly explain things or be overly nice or whatever but. It’s me! That’s just caused a little distance. And you don’t need to apologize. Just come back please.”
In May 2025, a representative for Swift told The Independent that her only connection to the film was that her song “My Tears Ricochet” was used on the soundtrack and criticised Baldoni for subpoenaing the star in the ongoing legal battle.
Baldoni’s attempt to depose Swift in the case was rejected by a judge in September last year.
He and Lively then settled their lawsuit in early May 2026, after which a federal judge ruled that Lively was “entitled to fees and costs” resulting from her legal fight against Baldoni’s countersuit.
Lively’s legal team submitted an $8m bill last week; Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios have until 13 July to decide whether to agree or challenge her claim.
Follow live updates from Swift and Kelce’s wedding here.
