OK, Maybe Taylor Swift & Blake Lively Really Aren't Friends Anymore

As Taylor Swift finds herself further roped into the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama, the tabloids have been ratcheting up the narrative that Swift feels used by Lively and the two of them are no longer friends. However, it was very easy to brush off those headlines because they were coming from the usual pro-Justin sources: Page Six, Daily Mail, New York Post, etc. That whole machine.

Well, this situation just took a very surprising turn. If there’s a story running in PEOPLE, it’s almost always because the celebrity’s team wants that story to run. The outlet is about as close to an official mouthpiece as it gets, which is why I was shocked to see what’s essentially confirmation that Blake and Taylor have become formers. I would not have put money on this being a real thing, and yet, here we are.

“Their friendship has halted,” says a source close to Swift. “Taylor wants no part in this drama.”

Another insider says that Lively, 37, and Swift, 35 — whose friendship can be documented going back to 2014 — are indeed “taking some space,” but adds that they are “not no longer friends.”

In late April, a source told PEOPLE that Swift “was really hurt” after being implicated in Lively’s legal fight but that the stars were working to “put it all behind them.” According to a complaint Baldoni filed in January, Lively referred to the pop star as one of her “dragons” in an alleged text exchange.

What makes this development even weirder is that, just yesterday, Baldoni’s team got slapped down in court for trying to drag Swift into the proceedings by drumming up accusations that Lively attempted to “extort” her. A judge was not having any of that, but it seems like the damage is already done.

Again, I really did not expect this outcome, and it’s kind of jarring. If this really is Taylor’s team making this move, they’re throwing Blake straight to the wolves. Sure, she’s winning the legal battle, but the court of public opinion is not going great thanks to Baldoni’s team giving Blake the full Amber Heard treatment right down to allegedly using social media bots. Taylor Swift dumping her on the front page of PEOPLE is not helping.