Taylor Swift cheered on Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl on Sunday with her usual posse of celebrity girlfriends, but one was noticeably absent. Blake Lively may have been by her side for the big game in 2024, but this year she was nowhere to be seen.
Swift was joined in the stands by Ice Spice and the Haim sisters, Este, Danielle and Alana, as well as Kelce’s parents, Donna and Ed, and his best friend and former NFL tight end, Ross Travis.
However, as one of Swift’s closest friends, Lively’s absence has caused a stir online. Was she uninvited because of her ongoing legal drama with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni? Does she just want to keep a low profile because of it? Or did Lively never plan on coming this year anyway?
Why was Blake Lively not at the Superbowl with Taylor Swift?
As you’d expect, reports vary. The Daily Mail has suggested there was a ‘falling out’ between the pair, claiming that Swift has ‘frozen’ Lively out because of her current legal situation – one which she was unwittingly dragged into earlier this year.
In Baldoni’s lawsuit, he shared a text message Lively had sent him after their meeting about the rooftop scene in It Ends With Us where she is said to have compared herself to Khaleesi from Game of Thrones and referred to Swift [who is referenced in the lawsuit as an 'unnamed megacelebrity', but is widely though to be Swift] as one of her ‘dragons’.
‘If you ever get around to watching Game Of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better,' Lively wrote. 'Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really, we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.’
A source has since told TMZ that Swift supposedly ‘feels used’ by Lively after finding out how her name was used as an alleged intimidation tactic. As for the dragon reference itself, the source said Swift was ‘baffled’ and added ‘it’s weird to say that about a friend'.
Another insider echoed that sentiment and told Page Six, ‘Taylor really wishes Blake hadn’t dragged her into this whole situation’ and she ‘wants to keep out of this drama as much as possible’. Swift wanting to distance herself from the drama is certainly a plausible explanation as to why Lively wasn't there this year, but is it even that complicated?
According to another source who spoke to Entertainment Tonight, Lively never planned on going in the first place. ‘Blake is not planning to join Taylor at the Super Bowl this year,’ they said ahead of the game. ‘They had a blast together last year, but this year Taylor is bringing others along.’
It goes without saying that Lively has a lot going on at the moment. Not only is she suing Baldoni for sexual harassment and for allegedly launching a targeted smear campaign against her during the press run of their film, but he has filed his own counter lawsuit against her accusing her of extortion and defamation, asking for $400 million in the process. The entire case has sent shockwaves across the entertainment industry and there appears to be a new, messy development to the story every day. If there was ever a time Lively would understandably want to stay out of the spotlight, it’s now.
Unfortunately for Swift, she was met with a frosty reception from the fans at the Kansas City Chiefs vs Philadelphia Eagles game regardless. When her face appeared on the big screen before the game started the crowds started to boo – something President Trump rather tragically took pleasure in on social media shortly afterwards.
If her attendance at the Super Bowl was enough to invoke boos from the crowds – likely for no reason other than her previous endorsement of Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris – it doesn’t bear thinking about what the reaction might have been like if Lively was there too. Especially on social media, where Lively has been a prime target for trolling and backlash since last August.
Whatever the reason the It Ends With Us star didn’t join Swift in her Super Bowl suite, it was probably a good call – even if we hope it had nothing to do with the state of their friendship.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).