Colleen Hoover’s Verity has officially made the jump from page to screen. And while the movie keeps the twisted, unsettling story at the heart of the novel, it makes some pretty significant changes along the way.
Some characters are removed entirely, parts of Verity’s autobiography don’t make it onto the screen, and the movie even changes what happens after Verity’s death.
So, if you finished the movie wondering Wait…was that how it happened in the book?, let’s get into it.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for both the Verity book and movie. If you haven’t finished both, consider this your official warning!
1. The Movie Completely Leaves Out Chastain Crawford
One of the biggest changes involves the Crawford children. In the book, Verity and Jeremy have three children: twin daughters Chastain and Harper, and their son, Crew. In the movie, Chastain doesn’t exist; instead, Harper and Crew are twins.
Chastain’s absence also changes an important part of Verity’s autobiography. While Verity writes about her resentment toward Harper, she describes genuinely loving Chastain. After Chastain dies following an accidental exposure to peanuts, Verity is devastated and ultimately blames Harper for her sister’s death.
Removing Chastain simplifies Verity’s relationship with her children and eliminates the contrast between how she describes her feelings toward her two daughters.
2. The Movie Uses Podcasts to Show Us a Different Side of Verity
The movie adds something that isn’t in the book: Verity’s appearances on popular podcasts, including Call Her Daddy and Hot Ones.
These clips give Lowen (and viewers) a glimpse of Verity before her accident that exists separately from the disturbing version of herself she presents in her autobiography. In a story where we’re constantly questioning who Verity really is, the interviews provide another version of her for us to consider.
Of all the changes the movie made, putting Verity Crawford on Call Her Daddy might be my favorite 😂
3. One of the Book’s Darkest Verity Scenes Doesn’t Make the Movie
The movie certainly doesn’t shy away from the disturbing material in Verity’s autobiography, but one particularly graphic scene from the book is omitted.
In the novel, Verity writes about attempting to end one of her pregnancies herself using a wire coat hanger. It’s easily one of the darkest and most difficult moments in the manuscript, but the adaptation leaves it out entirely.
And honestly? I’m not mad they left this one on the page. It’s the one part of the book that STILL gives me chills when I think about it.
🚨 Okay, we’re getting into MAJOR ending spoilers now.
If you’ve somehow made it this far without finishing the book or movie, this is your chance to escape.
4. The Movie Changes How Lowen and Jeremy Cover Up Verity’s Death
Both versions eventually reveal that Verity has been faking the extent of her condition, leading to the confrontation that ends with Jeremy killing her.
But the aftermath plays out differently.
In the movie, Lowen helps Jeremy dispose of Verity’s body in the lake, creating the appearance that a confused and physically weakened Verity wandered outside on her own.
The book handles the aftermath differently, without the lake sequence. So while Lowen is complicit in covering up Verity’s death in both versions, the movie changes the method they use to conceal what really happened.
5. The Book Takes Jeremy’s Dark Side Even Further
If you thought Jeremy’s actions in the movie were dark, the book takes things even further.
The later book material reveals that Verity isn’t Jeremy’s only victim. After he and Lowen begin their new life, Jeremy kills Patricia, one of Verity’s friends, out of fear that she could expose where the family is living and potentially connect them to what happened to Verity.
Leaving Patricia, and this storyline, out of the movie significantly changes what we’re left believing about Jeremy. His killing of Verity can potentially be interpreted through the extraordinary circumstances surrounding their confrontation; the book’s later events make his capacity for violence much harder to dismiss.
6. The Movie Leaves Out the Book’s North Carolina Epilogue
The movie ends with Lowen pregnant and preparing to leave the Crawford home with Jeremy, giving us the sense that they’re about to start their lives over somewhere new.
The book actually shows us that fresh start.
In the epilogue, Lowen, Jeremy, Crew, and Lowen and Jeremy’s three-month-old daughter are living in North Carolina. The family has taken Lowen’s last name in an effort to avoid attention and distance themselves from Verity’s death.
But their new life isn’t exactly the clean slate they hoped for—especially once Jeremy’s paranoia and Patricia’s fate come into play.
So, How Different Is the Verity Movie From the Book?
Despite these changes, the movie keeps the major story (and the question at the center of Verity) largely intact: Who do you believe?
Some of the adaptation’s changes streamline the story, while others actually change the information we’re given about Verity, Jeremy, and Lowen. And in a story built around unreliable accounts and competing versions of the truth, those missing details matter.
The book and movie may tell essentially the same story, but they don’t necessarily leave you with the same people to trust.
And with Verity, maybe that’s the whole point.
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