It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover wipes Blake Lively photos from Instagram as she returns to social media

It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover has scrubbed Blake Lively from her Instagram, even culling a photo that the embattled actress had tagged her in, after quietly returning to the social media platform Wednesday, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Hoover, 45, wrote the 2016 novel that was adapted into the 2024 movie now at the center of a toxic legal battle between Lively, 37, and the film’s director and co-lead Justin Baldoni, 41. 

Baldoni claims Lively used her superior star power to persuade Hoover to side with her – with the Texas-based author issuing a statement in support of the actress after she filed a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment in December.

Previously, the mom-of-three had enjoyed a warm relationship with Baldoni, with emails included in the $400million countersuit filed last month showing Hoover had told him ‘there is no one better for the project’ and suggesting he play the male lead.

But as the legal fight ramped up three weeks ago, Hoover deleted her Instagram account and with it the December statement that described Lively as ‘honest, kind, supportive and patient’.

Now her page has been relaunched with all traces of both Baldoni and Lively removed, among them, photos taken during the promotion of the ill-starred movie which premiered in August.  

Instead, the best-selling author appears to be focused on the upcoming adaptation of her 2018 thriller Verity which will star Anne Hathaway as the eponymous female lead.

Hoover’s decision to return to social media comes as Lively and her legal team were dealt a minor setback in the court fight with Baldoni and were denied an extension to file their amended complaint.

During a hearing in New York last week, Lively’s lawyers said they intended to file an amended complaint naming new parties by Valentine’s Day.

But in a three-page letter sent to Judge Lewis J. Liman on Monday, attorney Michael Gottlieb asked for an extra two weeks to complete the changes.

That request, although not opposed by Baldoni’s legal team, was denied by Judge Liman who allowed the actress’ team just one extra day, with the amendments now expected to be filed on Monday.

A source close to Lively told DailyMail.com in a statement on Wednesday: ‘We are pleased with the Court’s ruling, which granted most of the relief we had sought. Adjustments to the parties’ scheduling requests are not controversial—they are typical and inevitable in litigation. 

‘We have no concerns with filing Ms. Lively’s amended Complaint on or before February 18. We will be adding additional evidence to the amended complaint.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Colleen Hoover for comment.  

The legal fight between Lively and Baldoni has now ground on for almost two months and kicked off when the actress sued her former co-star for sex harassment just before Christmas.

That lawsuit was swiftly followed by a bombshell New York Times feature based on its contents and included text messages exchanged by Baldoni’s publicists that allegedly showed them planning a smear campaign to discredit her.

Baldoni retaliated with a $250million defamation suit against the paper and then, last month, filed a countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, that accused them of attempting to ‘hijack’ the movie.

The enormous 240-page filing also claimed Lively’s team had selectively edited text conversations to leave critical context out and included a bombshell conversation in which the actress compared herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and referred to Reynolds and best friend Taylor Swift as ‘my dragons’.

DailyMail.com subsequently obtained raw footage of a dancing scene. in her suit, Lively claimed microphones had been switched off enabling the actor to nuzzle her neck with his nose and tell her ‘you smell so good’ – a key plank of her sex harassment case.

But the video cast doubt on the claim and proved that Baldoni’s microphone was not switched off with audio showing the pair had spent most of the time discussing their significant others.

The smell good comment was also revealed to be part of a conversation about Lively’s fake tan.

A voicemail obtained by DailyMail.com also shed further light on the much-disputed rooftop scene that was edited by Lively and prompted her dragon comment when Baldoni failed to shower her changes with praise.

In it, a clearly rattled Baldoni is heard offering the actress a groveling apology and noting ‘I fell short’ over his response to her changes.

He also addressed the dragon threat directly, saying: ‘Damn right, you got great friends. If that’s how you felt and they knew that. F***.

‘We should all have friends like that, aside from the fact they’re two of the most creative people on the planet… The three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy. Force. All three of you.’

Since then, Baldoni’s team have gone on to launch a website about the legal case that includes pages of evidence.

Thelawsuitinfo.com went live with links to an amended version of Baldoni’s complaint and a ‘timeline of relevant events’ charting how the feud developed during filming for their 2024 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s acclaimed novel.

The cache included texts between Baldoni and Reynolds in which the latter said he ‘adored’ the director and flirty texts sent to him by Lively.

‘It’s important to point out that nobody is monetizing off this. It’s simply a landing page to have access to legal documents that are already public,’ a source told DailyMail.com. 

‘This is far from a provocation. In fact, it’s yet more evidence that Justin and his team intend to be continually transparent.’