Um, Colleen Hoover, Now You Have to Tell Us

For the last eleven months, we’ve watched the drama surrounding the It Ends With Us dueling lawsuits morph into some kind of Greek-mythology Hydra creature—growing dozens and dozens of ugly new heads from its already very unfortunate head. The lawsuits spawned a nightmare (and very telling) deposition; a Megyn Kelly news cycle after Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, went on her show to claim Blake Lively lied about everything; a possible falling out between Lively, Taylor Swift, and Ryan Reynolds (and maybe even Travis Kelce); and an abhorrent Hollywood Reporter cover story painting Justin Baldoni as a feminist who might not know any better because of his religious-cult upbringing. And this is just the short list.

Through all this, we’ve barely heard from Colleen Hoover, the author of It Ends With Us and now one of the most successful and prolific writers in history. Right after Lively’s initial complaint went public, Hoover sided with her, writing in an Instagram Story: “@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met. Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.” However, she deactivated her account on January 22, and when she returned to the platform in February, her entire grid was scrubbed of any post featuring Lively or Baldoni.

But in a new interview with Elle, she opened up for the first time about the impact the lawsuits have had on her—though she also dangled a fucking carrot right in front of our faces.

First, a quick recap: Despite mixed reviews and some very warranted criticism, the film was, by all measures, a global hit, making over $350 million at the box office.

But the premiere seemed weird, with Bethenny Frankel later confirming the vibes were bad, and then Baldoni inexplicably hired Johnny Depp’s crisis PR manager. On December 21, 2024, the New York Times published an explosive exposé revealing that Lively filed a civil rights complaint against Baldoni and that he and his team coordinated a smear campaign against her. Lively then additionally sued Baldoni for sexual harassment. Baldoni retaliated with a $400 million defamation suit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and the New York Times, while claiming that Lively hijacked the film. On Halloween, a judge formally dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit; a week later, newly unsealed documents revealed that Lively was seeking $161 million in damages (a massive increase from the initial $75,000). The trial is still scheduled for March.

“It feels like a circus,” Hoover told Elle. “When there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions. This actually truly has impacted some of the actors’ careers in huge ways. And I just find it all around sad.” This is so fair, and I empathize with her. But she could have just stopped there.

“I’m just trying to stay removed from the negativity. I have my own story I could tell, but I don’t want to bring attention to it, and I don’t want to have to put someone else down to lift myself up,” she continued. “So I’d rather just ignore it and let people think and say what they’re going to say. I feel like it’s so big at this point that there’s nothing anyone can say to change whatever opinion people have of it, even though no one has the actual truth. Not even me.” As I mentioned, this woman is one of the most successful authors in history—she knows how fucking infuriating a cliffhanger is. Why would she do this?

She also told the outlet that her mom is feeling affected by the fallout, which does feel especially painful. “The book was inspired by her story, and now it gives us PTSD to think about it,” she said. Hoover went so far as to say that she’s “almost embarrassed” about writing it.

“I can’t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it,” she said. “When people ask what I do, I’m just like, ‘I’m a writer. Please don’t ask me what I wrote.’ The more time that passes, the easier everything gets for all of us. But it is sad, because I was very proud of that book. And I’m still proud of it, but less publicly so. Maybe I need therapy, I don’t know.”

Hoover was an executive producer on It Ends With Us and had a brief cameo, but was only on set for a few days, and states that she was “completely unaware that anything was happening.” Again, if I’m her publicist, I’m telling her to then say, “I have no further comment,” and nothing else.

I fear that by seemingly attempting to chop off this monster’s 87 heads, she instead just allowed it to spawn 187 more.

---

Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.