Author Colleen Hoover reveals private cancer battle as she is forced to deny 'sympathy sales' claims

You would have to be living under a rock if you hadn't heard of author Colleen Hoover.

The US-based writer, 46, has sold more than 35 million books, and three of her tomes have been turned into movies, with more on the horizon.

Now, the writer of bestseller It Ends with Us has revealed she has been privately battling cancer since last year and has called out those who thought her recent Instagram posts were to elicit "sympathy-sales" for her new book.

In October last year, Hoover announced she would be pulling out of some planned events, including a premiere of the film, Reminders of Him.

"I'm super bummed, but am having an unavoidable surgery and can't travel for a while," Hoover reportedly shared on Instagram.

"I'll live vicariously through you guys.

"So sad to miss this movie release and premiere, but so grateful to all the actors and the team who put this together."

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Then in December, she reportedly shared a follow-up post in which she revealed she had been diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer.

Hoover said she had been suffering "recurring health issues" while filming Reminders of Him, but had "continued to put off" investigations "until the movie was finished".

While "it felt huge and scary for a bit", and she had to miss the premiere and "other important career and personal moments", she said she "wasn't ready to share with anyone until I knew what the outcome would be".

Then on January 10 came another update on her cancer battle, after the author shared a photo taken to mark the completion of radiotherapy.

"Second to last day of radiation," she captioned a photo of herself on her Instagram Story.

"I wish I could blame my hair and facial expressions on @Texas.Oncology, but they've been great. Hope you never need them, but highly recommend them."

The author also shed more light on her cancer diagnosis, but still elected not to share the type of cancer.

"I got results back today from the geneticist that say my cancer did not come from family genes," she wrote.

"It also didn't come from the two main causes of the cancer, which are HPV and excessive hormones.

"This means it was more than likely environmental/lifestyle, which is lack of exercise, poor diet and stress.

"I'm happy and grateful to be alive but I hate vegetables.

"I hate when I have to get off the couch. I hate sweating. I hate when science is right.

"[So] if you see me at the gym, don't even tell me good job.

"If you see me at a restaurant eating grilled chicken and drinking water, I'm probably real mad about it."

Then overnight came another update on her Story, in which she denied she was after 'sympathy sales' and joked about her appearance in the previous post.

"I'm doing much better," she said.

"My cancer diagnosis was a while ago, but I chose to keep it private until after finding out my surgery was successful and what my other treatments might be.

"I've been talking about it online with readers for about a month now, so when I posted the pic yesterday to thank Texas Oncology I wasn't announcing anything. I've been open about it for a while.

"It wasn't a ploy to get sympathy-sales for release day.

"And yes, I went to radiation treatment in Dallas yesterday morning and also surprised a bookstore doing a midnight release in South Carolina, not because I'm lying about anything, but because I'm a badass.

"Anyway, assumptions out of the way, can I just ask myself why I thought posting that picture was a good idea.

"I woke up today to see this pic on TV. I'm mortified, but also can't stop laughing because it tracks."

Below, we'll take a look at her incredible career so far as she faces her toughest battle to date.

Early life and first book

Margaret Colleen Fennell was born on December 11, 1979, in Texas.

She married Heath Hoover when she was 20 years old and together they went on to have three sons.

She earned a degree in social work from a state university before going on to work as a social worker and teacher.

In 2011, Hoover began writing her debut novel, Slammed, drawing inspiration from the Avett Brother song, Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise, and especially the lyric "Decide what to be, and go be it."

Hoover claims she never planned to publish the book, but decided to self-publish it in January 2012 so either her mother or grandmother, depending on which report you believe, could read it on their Kindle.

She told Maryse's Book Blog in 2012 that writing was a "far-off, unattainable dream".

"I would write stories when I was younger, but have never attempted a novel," she said.

"I met my husband when I was 16. We married when I was in college and had our first baby when I was 20.

"By the time I was 25, I had three kids and was working on my Master's in social work.

"My focus was school, work and raising my boys. When I started writing Slammed, I still wasn't sure what my purpose was.

"I just fell in love with the characters, so I continued writing and I suddenly had two chapters in my hands."

Just one month after its release, she self-published a sequel, Point of Retreat.

Sales of both books skyrocketed after a book blogger gave Point of Retreat a five-star rating, and by August that year, both books had made The New York Times Best Seller list.

She self-published another novel, Hopeless, in December 2012, which became the first self-published novel to go to number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Her second book in the series, Losing Hope, followed just months later, while another book was also published in between.

By then, Hoover had quit her job as a social worker to become a full-time writer. Publisher Artia Books came on board and re-released her first two books.

It Ends with Us

In 2016, Hoover released her most famous novel, It Ends with Us.

It was inspired by Hoover's personal experience growing up in a household marked by domestic violence.

The author started using her own social media early on to publicise her books.

In 2021, attention from the so-called BookTok community of TikTok saw interest in the novel surge.

As a result, it went to number one on the The New York Times Best Sellers list in January 2022 – almost six years after its release.

A sequel to the book, It Starts with Us, was published in October 2022, and became its publisher's most pre-ordered book of all time.

That year, Hoover held six of the The New York Times Best Sellers top 10 spots.

It Ends with Us spent 168 weeks of 2024 on the The New York Times Best Seller List.

Hollywood comes calling

It wasn't long before Hollywood came calling, and production on the film adaptation of It Ends with Us began in May 2023, with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in the starring roles.

The film was released in August 2024 to mixed reviews but had great commercial success, grossing more than $US350 million ($558 million) worldwide.

Unfortunately, the film itself has all but been eclipsed by the ongoing legal stoush between Lively and Baldoni.

Since then, it has been announced three more of Hoover's books, Verity, Reminders of Him and Regretting You, were being made into movies, with a different studio at the helm of each.

Reminders of Him is the first to be completed and is set to open in cinemas early this year.

Regretting You, starring Allison Williams, Scott Eastwood, Dave Franco and Mckenna Grace, is set to be released in October this year.

Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and John Hartnett are set to co-star in Verity.

Prolific writer

Hoover has now published 27 books, including three she co-authored.

She is also one of the world's best-selling authors.

In September last year, publisher Simon & Schuster announced sales of It Ends with Us had reached 10 million copies.

According to Simon & Schuster, it was social media, and most notably TikTok, that had largely driven sales of Hoover's books.

"With nearly 4.5 million fans across her social platforms and over 35 million books sold globally, Hoover's viral novels have driven demand to groundbreaking levels since 2020," the publisher said.

"The #ColleenHoover hashtag has over 2.4 billion views on TikTok."

Time named Hoover one of its 100 most influential people of 2023.

By 2025, Hoover's net worth had grown to about $15 million.

However, she continues to live in the same small Texas town where she grew up, and shares a home with her husband and three sons.

She and her two sisters run a non-profit bookstore, the Bookworm Box, in town and host the Book Bonanza literary festival for up-and-coming writers.

Her latest book, Woman Down, was released on January 13.

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