Love her or hate her, you have to admit Anne Hathaway's got some impressive acting chops,
and a mean set of pipes.
While she's been gracing the big screen for decades, in real life, she's faced many challenges.
Think you already know everything about Anne Hathaway?
Here's the scoop on her impressive transformation.
Hathaway always exudes dignity and grace, and she also seems to be determined to do
her own thing.
And it turns out that this staunch independence isn't something that she acquired after achieving
Hollywood superstardom, it's actually been part of her personality ever since she was
a little girl.
"Ella of Frell, I give you the gift of obedience.
Now go to sleep."
In 2004, Blackfilm.com asked Hathaway if she was well-behaved like her character in Ella
Enchanted, or if she was a bit more on the rebellious side.
Anne revealed,
"I was a very independent little girl.
If I felt my parents made sense in what they were asking me to do, I wouldn't just challenge
them to be challenging them.
But if…I disagreed with something, I was always encouraged to argue my stance, and
even if I lost I would usually go off and do my own thing anyway."
That independence would lay the groundwork for Hathaway's future career.
"You are never to kiss him again."
"You wanna bet?"
Even though Hathaway appears quite confident these days, the actress experienced self-esteem
issues as she was growing up.
Speaking on her happy life as an adult, Hathaway told ABC News that there was a time when she
couldn't have even imagined an existence filled with so much joy.
"I disliked myself so intensely.
It was just a mindset.
I didn't know how to love myself, which meant I didn't know how to love anybody."
Hathaway said that part of her unhappiness was because she was lonely and didn't know
how to let people in.
Fortunately, she was able to turn to her love of acting to help her become more comfortable.
She said,
"I loved getting on a stage because I knew what was going to happen next.
The thing that felt impossible at the time was actually being present and being here."
At 16, Hathaway moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles, California, determined to pursue
her dreams.
While she loved her hometown, Hathaway told Interview in 2011 that she'd always wanted
to spread her wings.
She said,
"My feeling about growing up in New Jersey was, 'How come I'm not in New York?'…I think
I grew up in an incredibly privileged position.
The town I grew up in is beautiful.
I got a great education, and I'm very grateful for it."
Almost as soon as she landed in L.A., Anne booked the TV series Get Real.
"It was definitely a very intense episode, but ultimately rewarding.
We were very happy with the final product."
"Ultimately rewarding."
But it would be her next role that would cement her career in the movies.
In 2001, Hathaway starred in The Princess Diaries which brought her international acclaim.
Years later, she told People magazine that she had a feeling that the film was going
to be huge, remembering,
"Just getting the script, you get to audition for this, it just had that feeling.
I touched it and it was electric."
Hathaway was just 18 years old when she got the big break that also made another dream
come true; working with Julie Andrews.
She said,
"Getting to make it and be on set every day, I got to hug Julie Andrews every day.
That part was also very, very, very magical."
Hathaway is still grateful to The Princess Diaries, saying it made her quote "very, very,
very famous," although these days, she looks at things a bit differently, adding,
"I live my life as if I've won the lottery, you know, not as though I was famous."
After The Princess Diaries came out, it seemed Hathaway ran the risk of being typecast as,
well, a princess.
Her subsequent films included Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Hathaway also starred in a number of romantic comedies, including The Devil Wears Prada,
Bride Wars, and Valentine's Day.
"Are you wearing the…"
"...the Chanel boots?
Yeah, I am."
But in 2012, Hathaway shook things up as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.
Hathaway even prepped for the role by studying cats to help her learn how to move with stealth
and grace.
She told Interview,
"I actually had this moment when I convinced one of the assistant directors on the London
portion of the film to get a cat with me, the idea being that we were going to get a
kitten from a rescue shelter, and he was going to live with me, and I was going to observe
it, and when I left London I was going to give it to her."
Ultimately Hathaway decided to just watch a, quote, "National Geographic video on cats"
instead.
In spite of Hathaway's success and endearing qualities, there was a time when a hate-filled
campaign against the star nearly derailed her career.
It all began shortly after she wrapped up her role in 2012's Les Misérables.
While it's unclear exactly how it all started, suddenly the internet had turned against Hathaway,
and her critics were dubbed "Hathahaters."
Howard Stern even said on his SiriusXM radio show in 2013,
"Everyone sort of hates Anne Hathaway.
[She seems] so affected and actressy."
"And it seems to me that people love to talk s--- about Anne Hathaway without any rational
reason."
Headlines everywhere blasted Hathaway, with SFGate dubbing her the quote "Most Annoying
Celebrity of 2013."
The vitriol easily tarnished Hathaway's Oscar win for Les Mis.
She was still reeling from the emotionally challenging role, while fielding the cruelty
of the press, telling The Guardian in 2016,
"I had to stand up in front of people and feel something I don't feel, which is uncomplicated
happiness.
It's an obvious thing, you win an Oscar and you're supposed to be happy.
I didn't feel that way."
The public hatred aimed at Hathaway had the potential to be particularly damaging because
of her history of being hard on herself.
But instead of sinking into a depression, Hathaway instead found ways of coping with
the widespread cyberbullying.
In 2014, she told Ellen,
"I listened at first.
I couldn't help it.
You try to shut it off, and I couldn't.
And then I realized why I couldn't was [that] I hadn't learned to love myself yet.
I hadn't gotten there.
And if you don't love yourself, when someone else says horrible things to you, part of
you is always going to believe them."
Hathaway decided that, instead of absorbing the negativity, she was going to focus on
loving herself, making the decision to no longer be dependent on what other people think
of her.
She said,
"I just kept livin'.
It's been a really cool journey and I feel like…I have a tremendous amount of love
and compassion for everyone else.
And, best of all, I have it for myself."
"I've learned how to step away from what does not resonate with my core."
As Town & Country pointed out in 2019, Hathaway has cultivated a reputation for keeping her
personal life notoriously private.
But it's not necessarily for the reasons you might think.
"You will no longer use this crutch of the mind."
In 2011, Interview asked her what her biggest flaws as an actress are and Hathaway acknowledged
that, while she thinks that the quote "list is endless," she also would never share them
with the public, saying,
"One of the reasons why it's dangerous is that if you point out what you don't like
about yourself, then I think people can start to look for that.
It's part of the reason why I try to stay out of the spotlight as much as humanly possible,
because I think that when actors, whether or not they've chosen it or it has been thrust
upon them, are living very public lives, it affects your ability to get lost in their
performances."
One of the major influences in Hathaway's life has been her husband, Adam Shulman, whom
she credits with having transformed her life.
She told Elle in 2017,
"He changed my ability to be in the world comfortably."
"I just figured out how to say thank you to life by trying to just absorb the best, by
trying to nourish myself, for taking care of myself."
Shulman, an actor, producer, and jewelry designer, has been with Hathaway since 2008.
The couple married in 2012 and have been together ever since.
She said,
"I think the accepted narrative now is that we, as women, don't need anybody.
But I need my husband.
His unique and specific love has changed me."
There are still times when anxiety overwhelms her, but Hathaway has developed a coping tactic
for this: writing down what's stressing her out.
She told Town & Country in 2019,
"Set a timer on your phone, have a candle nearby, and write it all down.
You spew it all out.
You do not read it.
The timer goes off, you tear it out of the book, and you light it on fire."
"Hello everyone.
Happy International Women's Day."
In 2016, Hathaway was appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador.
She said via the UN's website,
"Significant progress has already been made but it is time that we collectively intensify
our efforts and ensure that true [gender] equality is finally realized."
"It's about creating the freedom to define roles."
The unapologetic feminist wants to see gender equality on a global scale, and she's excited
to see that Hollywood is also slowly starting to work towards that goal.
In 2019, she told Town & Country that she first felt the film industry starting to shift
on the set of Ocean's 8, a female-led reboot of the original Ocean's trilogy.
She said,
"We were there for each other, and we were supportive.
Why have I always been told that the opposite would happen?"
"Hi, Daff, welcome to the team, let's not all high-five at once."
Hathaway also credits other women with being a source of strength for her.
Two of her famous friends, Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt, keep Hathaway inspired.
She says of that kind of friendship,
"You just believe that more is possible.
You're a little bit braver and you want to dig a little bit deeper, you know?"
Hathaway has struggled with infertility in the past, and she has been very open about
her journey.
On an Instagram post in July 2019, announcing her second pregnancy, she wrote,
"For everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a
straight line to either of my pregnancies."
In a later interview with the Daily Mail, Hathaway revealed even more about her infertility
struggles and explained why she had been so candid.
She said,
"Each time I was trying to get pregnant and it wasn't going my way, someone else would
manage to conceive…There's a one-size-fits-all narrative that we attach to getting pregnant,
and it's a narrative that only wants to focus on the happy moment.
But that's not the whole story because, for many women, this is just not that easy.
I'm tired of it, because it's not the truth and I like the truth."
After struggling with infertility, Hathaway gave birth to her first child, Jonathan, in
2016.
And these days, Hathaway is determined to not just love herself in order to be happy,
but to also set a good example for her children.
"My boy gets to love everything, you know?
And there's nobody coming in and telling him your favorite color can't be pink."
She told Vogue in 2018,
"How Johnny is going to feel about himself will have so much to do with how I feel about
myself in front of him.
If I'm feeling insecure, I am very careful that I don't show that.
But I also work really hard to acknowledge that place, give room for that place, and
then release myself from that place.
I'm more loving now, and that includes toward myself."
Hathaway's career may have had its ups and downs, but she has achieved remarkable success
and has had some incredibly big breaks.
And she isn't taking any of it for granted.
She told Town & Country in 2019,
"It's all temporary, like, all of it.
I used to not understand that, and it was a lot harder…A part of me just has to be
aware that whatever is going on, however hard it is, whatever it's asking of me, I'm incredibly
lucky to be the one who's being asked."
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