“It Ends With Us” author Colleen Hoover slammed the legal battle drama surrounding the film adaptation of her book as a “circus.”
Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been engaged in a legal fight for nearly a year over behavior that allegedly took place on the film set of a movie based on Hoover’s book.
“It feels like a circus,” Hoover told Elle magazine. “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.”
In December, Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and more against Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights Department and later in federal court.
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Baldoni, in his own lawsuit filed in January, insisted Lively had “falsely” accused him in an attempt to repair her reputation after the fallout from the movie’s press tour after the actress took control of the film. Baldoni’s legal team claimed Lively had no evidence of a deliberate smear campaign and had instead worked to repair her reputation by accusing the actor and others of sexual harassment.
His lawsuit has since been dismissed.
For Hoover’s part, she’s 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 explained. “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,” Hoover added. “Not even me.”
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Baldoni and Lively filmed “It Ends With Us” in May 2023. The film premiered on Aug. 9, 2024. The film showed the abusive relationship between Lily Bloom (Lively) and Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), mirroring the violence Bloom experienced growing up.
Hoover’s inspiration for the book was her own mother.
“The book was inspired by her story, and now it gives us PTSD to think about it,” Hoover told Elle magazine. “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.”
“I can’t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it,” she noted. “I’m almost embarrassed to say I wrote it. When people ask what I do, I’m just like, ‘I’m a writer. Please don’t ask me what I wrote.’”
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The legal battle between Lively and Baldoni is far from over, with a trial date in March 2026.
“The more time that passes, the easier everything gets for all of us,” Hoover said. “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.”
