No, Colleen Hoover’s new book, Woman Down, is not rooted in her real-life experience.
“I think people might expect this book to mirror my life more than it does,” Hoover, 46, told People exclusively on Tuesday, January 13. “But overall, there are very few similarities between my life and this book.”
The book, which was released on Tuesday, follows the story of famed author Petra Rose who is dealing with the aftermath of a major controversy when her film adaptation received widespread backlash after one-third of the book’s love triangle gets cut out of the movie completely.
Petra tells her readers that cutting the love triangle wasn’t her idea. However, one of the fictional producers has receipts and publishes text messages where Petra can be seen signing off on the decision. Elsewhere in the novel, it’s revealed that Petra was pushed into it.
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This might sound familiar to anyone following the ongoing It Ends With Us saga, but Hoover has doubled down on the fact that her latest release — the first book the author has published since It Starts With Us in 2022 — is not rooted in truth.
“Just please keep in mind that while writers do take from their own lives, and some of the themes may mirror those of my own life in ways, this is in no way a replica of my journey or my morals, nor is it a reflection of how I feel about my peers or this industry,” Hoover wrote in the author’s note published with Woman Down on Tuesday. “This is simply a fun journey the characters took me on and nothing more.”
She continued, “Please, I beg of you, do not try to make ties between my personal life and this story, as there are none. I’m just a writer writing about a writer — I am in no way advocating for or defending the character’s behavior or thoughts.”
Hoover explained that Woman Down was an expansion of a short story, Saint, which was released in 2020. (Saint is the name of Woman Down’s male main character.)
“I took the short story some of you read and poured my heart and soul into expanding it. It has taken me three years to release a book since It Starts With Us,” Hoover’s author’s note continued. “Not because I’ve been rewriting Saint for those three years, but because I’ve been trying out new things outside writing. And frankly, I needed some space from a career I was beginning to find more stressful than normal.”
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Hoover’s name has been in the headlines for months after her 2024 It Ends With Us movie adaptation, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed the film), turned into an all-out legal brawl.
Lively, 38, filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, 41, which kicked off the public war that’s set to be taken to court later this year. Baldoni has since pushed back with a lawsuit of his own. Text messages from Hoover, which were released in court documents filed in November 2025, appeared to show the author showing her frustration about the entire situation.
“It feels like a circus,” Hoover told Elle in an interview published that same month, breaking her silence on the entire situation. “When there are real people involved, with real feelings and emotions.”
She added, “This actually truly has impacted some of the actors’ careers in huge ways. And I just find it all around sad. 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.”
Hoover — who revealed a private battle with cancer the day before her new book dropped — noted that she made a conscious effort to “ignore” all the drama.
“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,” she added. “Not even me.”
