“The timeline isn’t perfect” - Perez Hilton reacts to fan theories that Taylor Swift’s ‘Ruin The Friendship’ is about Blake Lively

Podcaster Perez Hilton weighed in on viral fan theories suggesting that Taylor Swift’s upcoming track Ruin The Friendship was inspired by her rumored fallout with longtime friend Blake Lively. In his website article (linked to his August 15, 2025, post on X), Hilton wrote:

"If this is true, Taylor Swift is being REALLY obvious with this title… but is it that far-fetched?… Of course, the timeline isn’t perfect here."

Perez Hilton

@PerezHilton

Is Taylor Swift's New Song Ruin The Friendship About Blake Lively?? Fans Think... 🔗

For context, Taylor Swift appeared on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. During the August 13, 2025, episode, she revealed the track list for her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl. She then revealed that the sixth track of the album was titled Ruin The Friendship.

Referring to Swift’s announcement on his website article, Hilton noted that the announcement had sent fans into a frenzy.

"We mean, the photoshoot, the Sabrina Carpenter feature… exciting stuff! But one song title in particular caught Swifties’ eyes… because of the singer’s recent drama with Blake Lively," he remarked.

He then recapped the controversy surrounding Blake Lively amid her ongoing legal dispute with her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

"As part of the ongoing It Ends With Us legal drama with Justin Baldoni, some pretty unsettling stuff came out about the way Blake treated Tay… a source claimed Blake was threatening to leak all their private conversations if she didn’t get the support she wanted!" Hilton explained.

Hilton then emphasized that Lively’s alleged behavior was a “total back-stabbing move,” given Swift’s close relationship with her and Ryan Reynolds’ family. He pointed out that Swift had even referenced the couple’s children in her music and was their godmother. Given how the “whole crew was practically family”, Blake Lively’s behavior with Swift must have “hurt” the singer a lot

According to Hilton, that was why fans had immediately connected the song title Ruin The Friendship to the rumored betrayal of Lively. Fans interpreted it as a direct nod to the breakdown of the pair’s once-public friendship.

However, he urged caution, noting that much of the alleged Blake Lively drama emerged in late 2024 and 2025. However, Swift had said most of the album’s songwriting took place in the summer of 2024 during the European leg of the Eras tour. So, Hilton acknowledged that while there was a possibility the song could be about Blake Lively, the timeline discrepancy “raised some doubts” about it.

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More about Blake Lively and Taylor Swift’s friendship amidst the former’s ongoing legal drama

From L to R: Taylor Swift and Blake Lively (Image via Getty Images)

Ever since Blake Lively’s highly publicized legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni began, her long-standing friendship with Taylor Swift has faced increasing scrutiny. The rift intensified when Baldoni’s camp named Swift in court filings during his now-dismissed $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively.

In the filings, Baldoni alleged that Lively tried to use her close relationship with the pop superstar to gain control of the 2024 film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us.

He claimed Lively brought Swift and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, into a private script meeting, referring to them as her "dragons", in what he described as an attempt to pressure him into agreeing to major script changes.

In May 2025, Swift was formally subpoenaed, prompting her representative to denounce the move as an attempt to create "tabloid clickbait."

"Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions…she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history," the spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly at the time.

Baldoni’s legal team later withdrew the subpoena without explanation (per Page Six dated May 22, 2025), and the entire lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

However, neither Swift nor Lively publicly addressed whether the ordeal affected their friendship. Fans noted the two had not been seen together in months, fueling speculation that Swift’s upcoming track Ruin The Friendship might reference a falling-out between them.

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift (Image via Getty Images)

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Following the record-breaking success of her Eras Tour, Taylor Swift is now gearing up for the release of her next album, The Life of a Showgirl, set to drop on October 3, 2025.

However, the pop icon remains entwined in the lingering fallout from Blake Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni. As Page Six reported on June 18, 2025, a recent court ruling granted Baldoni’s legal team access to private messages between Lively and Swift about the film, pulling the All Too Well singer even deeper into the ongoing dispute.

On the other hand, the Gossip Girl alum remains locked in a heated legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

The dispute began when Blake Lively filed a s*xual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni and later accused him of launching a retaliatory smear campaign. The case is still in its discovery phase with the trial scheduled for March 9, 2026.