Colleen Hoover says she’s ‘broke as s–t’ after merch sale amid ‘It Ends With Us’ drama: ‘I can’t retire now’
Colleen Hoover is spilling the Diet Pepsi tea.
The author revealed that all of her merchandise on her website has been marked down to $10 an item amid the ongoing “It Ends With Us” drama, which was going to leave her “broke as s–t.”
“That’s, like, five times cheaper than what I paid for each item, which means by the end of the day today I’m going to be broke as s–t,” Hoover, 45, quipped in a video posted to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday.
“Well, I can’t retire now because now I’m gonna be in the hole by 5 p.m.,” she shared. “Even if you hate me, you should go buy a piece because it’s a very, kind of, bad thing. Anyway, at least I have my Diet Pepsi. It’s still gonna be a great day because you guys get almost free merch, congrats.”
Hoover claimed that her “boss” was the one who did the markdown.
She made the financial revelation before posting another video discussing her go-to drink and kitchen hack.
“This may be either a new rock bottom for me or the best thing that’s ever come out of my brain,” Hoover said. “Look at this, I poured Diet Pepsi into my ice cube [trays] so that I will have the best Diet Pepsi I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Do you think other people do this? We put water in our water. Do y’all put wine in your wine? I guess you don’t drink wine with ice cubes,” the writer continued as she filled a mug with the soda and the frozen soda cubes. “I’ll do anything not to drink coffee.”
Hoover addressed followers, telling them that her drink tasted “just like every other Diet Pepsi I’ve ever had” before noting it’s going to be “a great day.”
By the third video, she had backtracked as she dove into the merchandise mishap.
“Remember, like, five minutes ago when I ended the last video with, ‘It’s gonna be a great day’?” Hoover said.
She then teased that her boss “better be careful,” before referring to an allegation from Deuxmoi two months ago that claimed Hoover had let go all of her employees and retired from writing after the controversy between “It Ends With Us” stars Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.
The behind-the-scenes issues came to light when Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 41, accusing him of sexual harassment during filming and orchestrating a public smear campaign against her.
The “A Simple Favor” star also alleged that Baldoni caused her to suffer “severe emotional distress and pain, humiliation, embarrassment, belittlement, frustration and mental anguish.”
Baldoni denied the claims.
“Jane the Virgin” star Baldoni then filed a countersuit against the “Gossip Girl” alum, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s p.r. firm, Vision PR, for $400 million.
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said, “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”
Earlier this week, Reynolds, 48, filed a motion to dismiss the suit after the couple repeatedly shot down Baldoni’s allegations against them.
In his defamation suit, Baldoni accused Reynolds of privately calling him a “sexual predator” and working to get his talent agency — WME — to drop him.
Reynolds’ lawyers, Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, told The Post on Tuesday that the actor could not have defamed Baldoni because “Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”
“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here is the problem: That is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” Gottlieb and Hudson said.
Freedman responded to Reynolds’ legal filing in a statement to The Post.
“Mr. Reynolds’ exploitation of his enormous power in Hollywood continues, this time arrogantly asking to be dismissed from the case despite his publicly documented involvement extending far beyond just being a ‘supportive spouse,’” the message read. “Mr. Reynolds was a key player in the scheme, defaming Justin around Hollywood, strong-arming WME into dropping Justin as a client, and trying to destroy Justin’s career however possible. His fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and [his production company’s] team since Day 1.”
Hoover initially showed her support for Lively, but has since stayed away from commenting on the legal issues.
“@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met,” Hoover wrote in December beneath a snap of the women hugging at a screening of the movie. “Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt.”
