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Bestselling author, Colleen Hoover shared a health update with her millions of followers, revealing that she has been undergoing treatment for cancer. The author, known for global hits like It Ends With Us and Verity, took to her Instagram Stories to post a hospital selfie in a gown, noting it was her “second to last day of radiation.” While maintaining her signature humor, Hoover joked that she wished she could blame her “hair and facial expressions” on her medical team at Texas Oncology, whom she highly recommended.
The revelation provided clarity regarding several professional absences late last year. In October 2025, Hoover was noticeably missing from the premiere and promotional events for Regretting You, the film adaptation of her 2019 novel. At the time, she informed fans she was “super bummed” but was recovering from an “unavoidable surgery” that prevented her from traveling. It has since been confirmed that this surgery was for the removal of a tumor, which was discovered after she experienced recurring health issues while filming the movie adaptation of Reminders of Him in Canada.
Hoover initially chose to keep the diagnosis private, first disclosing it to a private Facebook fan group in December 2025 once she knew the outcome of her surgery was successful. She has been transparent about the fact that while the process “felt huge and scary,” she did not require chemotherapy, with radiation serving as the follow-up treatment. Although she has not specified the type of cancer, Hoover shared results from a geneticist on January 9, 2026, which confirmed the illness was not hereditary. She noted that tests ruled out family genes, HPV, and excessive hormones, leading her to believe the cause was likely related to environmental or lifestyle factors, such as stress.
Despite the health challenge, Hoover’s career remains in high gear. Her latest novel, Woman Down, was released on January 13, 2026, just as she was finishing her final rounds of radiotherapy. She was quick to clarify to fans that her recent transparency was not a “ploy” for book sales, but rather a desire to be open about her journey and why she had been away from the public eye. As she transitions into recovery, Hoover expressed deep gratitude for being alive, even while jokingly lamenting her new medical advice to embrace exercise and vegetables.
