Colleen Hoover Responds to Fans After Her Diet Pepsi Instagram Stories Spark Concern: 'Such Disturbing Content'
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03/20/2025 05:36 PM
The author caught the attention of her fans when she posted a series of Diet Pepsi-centric Instagram Stories on March 18
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Colleen Hoover in 2023Colleen Hoover is responding to questions about her recent Instagram posts.
The It Ends with Us author, 45, sparked concern after she posted a series of jokey videos to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, March 18, showing her making Diet Pepsi ice cubes and talking about her deeply discounted merch.
"This may be either a new rock bottom for me or the best thing that's ever come out of my brain," Hoover said in one now-expired video.
"Look at this," the author added, as she showed off an ice cube tray full of Diet Pepsi. "I poured Diet Pepsi into my ice cubes, so that I will have the best Diet Pepsi I've ever had in my life. I'll let you know how it goes."
She then took the ice cubes out of the tray and placed them into a reusable tumbler.
Gotham/WireImage
Colleen Hoover at the 'It Ends with Us' premiere in 2024"So far, it looks pretty disgusting," Hoover said, before pouring a bottle of Diet Pepsi into the cup. "I have hope."
"Do you think other people do this?" the author asked. "We put water in our water. Do you all put wine in your wine? I guess you don't drink wine with ice cubes. I'll do anything not to drink coffee."
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In another video, Hoover, drinking her Diet Pepsi, also brought attention to the price of her online merchandise, revealing that items were now "on sale for $10 an item." (The Regretting Him author's official site is currently having a March Madness sale.)
"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---," Hoover said.
"Well, I can't retire now because now I'm going to be in the hole by 5 p.m.," she joked. "Even if you hate me, you should go buy a piece because it's a very, kind of, bad thing."
Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan
Colleen Hoover in 2023The series of videos sparked concern from fans and internet users, some of whom asked if the author "was okay." The videos also come in the midst of the ongoing legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who starred in the 2024 movie adaptation of It Ends with Us.
However, Hoover took the questions in stride as she responded to fans with a since-expired post on her Instagram Stories shared on Wednesday, March 19, this time with a photograph of another bottle of Diet Pepsi.
"Such disturbing content," the author wrote across the photo in reference to online concerns. In another post, she overlaid text across a news headline about her recent social media activity.
Related: Is Colleen Hoover Writing Another Book? What She Says About Her 'Dry Spell' (Exclusive)
"They must be new here," the author wrote. "Me making ice cubes out of Diet Pepsi is one of the least disturbing things I've posted here 😂."
On Jan. 22, Hoover deactivated her Instagram account, over a month after Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni for sexual harassment on Dec. 20, 2024. Baldoni has denied all allegations against him. The author returned to the app on Feb. 12, with photos of Lively and Baldoni removed from her profile.
