Anne Hathaway Admits This Major Moment Had a ‘Toxic’ Impact on Her Career
Anne Hathaway has always had a critically acclaimed Hollywood career, pretty much from the start with her star-making turn as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries. However, she hasn’t always had an easy time when it comes to online trolls. The noise got loud enough in 2013 after her Oscar win for Les Misérables that it affected the roles being offered to her.
What was Hathaway guilty of? She was too eager, excited, and genuinely thrilled to reach a dream milestone in her career. Honestly, the “Hathahate” was unwarranted — she was just a theater kid who was so happy to be invited to the table. But the criticism was deafening, and the job offers stopped rolling in even though she had an Oscar on her mantel. Hathaway admitted to Vanity Fair that she’s “an intense person,” but an odd halt to her career certainly wasn’t warranted for being too passionate about the work she’s doing.
Hathaway shared that “a lot of people wouldn’t give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online.” Somehow it became too much of a risk to hire her because of her sincerity which sounds bananas when you think about it. Yet there was someone who threw the 41-year-old actress a lifeline during a very dark time: Christopher Nolan. “I had an angel in Christopher Nolan, who did not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of,” she revealed.
That movie was Interstellar, and she believes he saved her from an unwarranted Hollywood drought. “I don’t know if he knew that he was backing me at the time, but it had that effect,” she added. “And my career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn’t backed me.” This isn’t the first time Hathaway has openly discussed that time in her life. In 2014, she told Harper’s Bazaar that the post-Oscars criticism made her feel like she “got punched in the gut.”
“[I felt] shocked and slapped and embarrassed,” Hathaway said a decade ago. “Even now I can feel the shame. I had directors say to me, ‘I think you’re great. You’re perfect for this role, but I don’t know how audiences will accept you because of all this stuff, this baggage.'” Hathaway is getting the last laugh, though. Her successful career continues and the “Hathahaters” no longer have a grip on her self-worth.
Before you go, click here to see all the times Anne Hathaway’s fashion left us speechless.