As Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni‘s legal battle continues, the real-life story behind It Ends with Us has gotten lost in the mix.
Colleen Hoover, who authored 2016 novel that inspired the film, admitted she’s “almost embarrassed to say I wrote it” amid the ongoing battle in which Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and leading a smear campaign against her.
“I can’t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it,” Hoover told Elle of the 2024 movie. “When people ask what I do, I’m just like, ‘I’m a writer. Please don’t ask me what I wrote.’”
Mostly, Hoover feels bad her mother was subjected to the drama. “The book was inspired by her story, and now it gives us PTSD to think about it. I feel awful because I almost feel like she’s gone through more with the aftermath of this film, more pain than she went through with my dad, just seeing the ugliness of it,” she explained.
“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,” added Hoover. “And I’m still proud of it, but less publicly so. Maybe I need therapy, I don’t know.”
(L-R) Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni in It Ends With Us
Sony Pictures Releasing / courtesy Everett Collection
Hoover said she was “completely unaware that anything was happening” on set before Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni, also accusing him of leading an “astroturfing” campaign against her.
“I’m just trying to stay removed from the negativity. I have my own story I could tell,” she said. “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. 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.”
Most recently in the legal saga, Baldoni has filed to have the lawsuits thrown out against him and his Wayfarer Studios banner, although he did not say why.
