Colleen Hoover Says the It Ends With Us Legal Drama Gave Her ‘PTSD’

Colleen Hoover wrote It Ends With Us to better understand her mother’s relationship with her abusive biological father. Thanks to the ongoing legal drama between stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, Hoover says the trauma of the It Ends With Us movie is worse than the trauma of her childhood. “The book was inspired by her story, and now it gives us PTSD to think about it,” Hoover told Elle of how she and her mother feel. “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.”

If for some reason you missed the It Ends With Us lawsuit back-and-forth, how blissful your life must be. Lively’s 2024 harassment and retaliation lawsuit against her co-star/director and his production company will go to trial in March, while Baldoni’s countersuits for defamation — including one against the New York Times — were dismissed earlier this year. The fallout of these suits spread far and wide. Rainn Wilson is somehow involved. Taylor Swift was almost deposed. When Elle spoke to Hoover, she herself was about to be deposed. “It feels like a circus,” Hoover says. “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. So I’d rather just ignore it and let people think and say what they’re going to say.”

Hoover is now embarrassed by her most famous book. “I can’t even recommend it anymore. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it,” she says. “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.’” The lawsuit drama also seemingly impacted Hoover’s choice to be much more involved in later adaptations of her work. These include Verity (coming in fall 2026), Reminders of Him (March 2026), and, most recently, Regretting You, the Mason Thames vehicle that has been in the box-office top five for four weeks.