The It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover made a comeback to social media after her disappearance last month, but she came back with a twist.
She deleted anything and everything related to the movie adaptation and its main stars, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who are in a heated legal battle, with every one of them suing the other.
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Could it be because of Lively and Baldoni?
At first, she was vocal about her stance, supporting Lively. Weirdly enough, however, her moves coincide with those of Baldoni and Lively.
She deactivated her account in January when things got out of control between the co-stars and came back with nothing in her profile relating to them.
Hoover initially supported Lively
After Lively filed the lawsuit, Hoover supported her on Instagram, saying: “@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.”
Hoover has shifted her focus
With her comeback on social media, she still follows Lively but has unfollowed Baldoni. Moreover, she is shifting her focus on the new release of the movie adaptation of her book, Verity, starring Anne Hathaway.
The New York Times was caught in the middle
What struck the match was when Hoover linked a New York Times article to her post, highlighting Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni.
Baldoni, in turn, filed a lawsuit against the New York Times for $250 million for libel and false light privacy invasion.
How it all started
It all started in August 2024 when rumors circled around that there was tension between the co-stars as they hadn’t done any press together.
The rumors were confirmed when Lively filed a lawsuit in December 2024 for sexual harassment and orchestrating a public smear campaign against her.
Baldoni fired back
Baldoni countersued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for defamation and extortion, in addition to the aforementioned lawsuit against the New York Times.
Not only this, but he also released text messages and created a website outlining the timeline of events taking place, highlighting that Lively wanted to take control of the movie.
He also claimed that she was a diva
According to the legal documents filed by Baldoni in court, he accused Lively of blowing $430,000 of the It Ends With Us budget on her wardrobe.
Moreover, he alleged that she skipped a meeting with the film’s intimacy coordinator.
Details of Lively’s lawsuit
Lively alleged that Baldoni sexually harassed her as he allegedly walked in on her breast-pumping for her newborn, in addition to speaking about his past porn addiction.
Furthermore, she claimed that Baloni coordinated a retaliatory public smear campaign against her.
What went down in the pretrial conference
The pretrial conference took place earlier in February, and the trial has been scheduled to take place in March 2026.
The judge instructed the lawyers from both parties not to make any “extrajudicial statements” that may influence the jurors’ perspectives.
The judge warned both parties
Both parties weaponized the press to help their cause, but the judge has put a stop to this, threatening to move up the trial’s date if both parties continue to litigate the drama in the press.
