Colleen Hoover says she's 'almost embarrassed' she wrote It Ends With Us amid Blake Lively and Ju...

&34;I can't even recommend it anymore,&34; the author admitted. Colleen Hoover says she's 'almost embarrassed' she wrote It Ends With Us amid Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama &34;I can't even recommend it anymore,&34; the author admitted. By Mekishana Pierre :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/MekishanaPierreauthorphotoed08906b8105488ca1e991de8ac00dec.jpg) Mekishana Pierre Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at . She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar. EW's editorial guidelines November 20, 2025 1:36 p.m.

"I can't even recommend it anymore," the author admitted.

Colleen Hoover says she's 'almost embarrassed' she wrote It Ends With Us amid Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama

"I can't even recommend it anymore," the author admitted.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

EW's editorial guidelines

November 20, 2025 1:36 p.m. ET

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Colleen Hoover attends 'It Ends With Us' premiere on Aug. 6, 2024. Credit:

John Nacion/Variety via Getty

Colleen Hoover is breaking her silence on how the ongoing legal battle between* It Ends With Us* director-producer-star, Justin Baldoni, and leading lady, Blake Lively, has soured her relationship with her own work.

The bestselling author first published the novel in 2016, and it became the first of her books to be adapted for the big screen, which should have been a joyous occasion. But shortly after the film was released in August 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign, setting off a highly publicized legal battle that is currently set to go to trial in March 2026.

Hoover, who served as an executive producer on the film adaptation, says she was "completely unaware that anything was happening," even when she visited the set for a few days of filming.

Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, and Justin Baldoni.

"It feels like a circus," Hoover said in a new interview with *Elle* published Thursday. "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."

The author said she's trying to "stay removed from the negativity," adding that although she has her "own story I could tell," she doesn't want to breathe more life into the controversy.

"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," she went on. "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."

A complete timeline of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal battle

Inside 'The Office' star Rainn Wilson's texts to Justin Baldoni over Blake Lively legal battle: 'You were set up'

Hoover said that she mostly feels bad for her mother, whose experience with domestic violence inspired *It Ends With Us*. "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," the author told *Elle*.

And even harder for Hoover to accept, the legal drama has "tainted" how she feels about her novel.

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in 'It Ends With Us'.

Nicole Rivelli/Sony

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"I can't even recommend it anymore," she admitted. "I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it. 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.'"

Still, Hoover moves on. She celebrated the film adaptation of her book *Regretting You *hitting theaters earlier this year, and is gearing up for the release of two others next year.

*Reminders of Him*, which Hoover also co-wrote and produced, premieres in theaters March 13, followed by the adaptation of her book *Verity*, which stars Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, and Dakota Johnson, dropping in October 2026.

'Reminders of Him' director Vanessa Caswill and Colleen Hoover.

Vanessa Caswill/Instagram

Hoover's next novel *Woman Down* is slated to hits shelves in January. The story follows a once-celebrated author dealing with a "viral backlash over her latest film adaptation" that makes her take a hiatus, per a synopsis.

Baldoni and Lively are both expected to testify in trial in March 2026.

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