Blake Lively scored a legal win this week in the battle against her “It Ends With Us” director- costar Justin Baldoni and his associates, as a New York judge has ordered producer Jamey Heath to submit footage of his wife giving birth that was shown to Lively during production.
U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman on Monday ordered Heath to hand over the full video of his wife Natasha‘s home birth by Thursday, according to court documents obtained by People. Lively has claimed in her complaint that she was shown the video “without warning or consent.”
Liman conceded that the full footage “should have been produced” in earlier discovery, which sought “more than the video Heath claims he showed Lively” on the set of the blockbuster drama.
Submitted footage that shows Natasha giving birth “would tend to support Lively’s claim,” said Liman. The materials would be sealed under the judge’s order.
However, the judge stopped short of granting Lively’s attorneys’ request that Heath be sanctioned for turning over an abridged version of the video rather than the full video as was ordered.
The 38-year-old actress previously said she mistook the home-birth video of a “fully nude” Natasha as pornography, with Heath denying such a characterization of the “beautiful” milestone. When asked whether his wife was aware he was sharing the delicate video, Heath allegedly told the “A Simple Favor” star that Natasha “isn’t weird about this stuff.”
Lively initiated legal action against Baldoni, 41, and the Wayfarer parties just before Christmas 2024, when she filed a civil rights complaint alleging he sexually harassed her during production of the domestic violence film. Lively claims that Baldoni and co. waged a retaliatory smear campaign against her. She is currently seeking over $160 million in damages, as Baldoni denies the accusations.
Liman earlier this year tossed the $400 million defamation countersuit Baldoni filed against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as the $250 million libel lawsuit he filed against The New York Times, for its coverage of Lively’s initial complaint. Baldoni missed the deadline to appeal the dismissals last month.
The actors are slated to face-off against each other in March.
