Following what many deemed a disastrous job co-hosting the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011, Anne Hathaway was subjected to online vitriol and constant mockery.
Two years later, she was back at the Academy Awards, accepting her first Oscar for her performance in “Les Misérables.” But even with that accreditation, Hathaway says a negative online presence loomed.
“A lot of people wouldn’t give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online,” she told Vanity Fair in a new interview.
Anne Hathaway and James Franco received a lot of criticism for their role as co-hosts at the 2011 Academy Awards. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)
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“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 said, referencing their 2014 blockbuster, “Interstellar.”
“I don’t know if he knew that he was backing me at the time, but it had that effect,” she admitted. “And my career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn’t backed me.”
Anne Hathaway credits Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan for her career staying on track. (Samir Hussein/WireImag/Getty Images)
“Humiliation is such a rough thing to go through,” she added of the period. “The key is to not let it close you down. You have to stay bold, and it can be hard because you’re like, ‘If I stay safe, if I hug the middle, if I don’t draw too much attention to myself, it won’t hurt.’ But if you want to do that, don’t be an actor,” she declared.
Anne Hathaway has endured a tremendous amount of criticism and touched upon the feeling of “humiliation” in an interview with Vanity Fair. (Norman Jean Roy/Vanity Fair)
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“You’re a tightrope walker. You’re a daredevil. You’re asking people to invest their time and their money and their attention and their care into you. So you have to give them something worth all of those things. And if it’s not costing you anything, what are you really offering?”
Anne Hathaway says early in her career, people wanted her to have two separate identities. (Norman Jean Roy/Vanity Fair)
When “The Princess Diaries” actress first broke into the business, she says outsiders tried to curate her identity.
“All the advice that you’re given is to protect yourself. ‘Everybody’s dangerous and everybody’s trying to get something from you.’… People were advising me that I armor myself and keep that distance, and that I have two selves.”
“I found that terribly confusing,” she shared. “So I don’t do it that way. I’m not armored.”
Anne Hathaway offered advice for young people dealing with hate online. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
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Now a mother to two young sons, Hathaway is cognizant of how negativity online plagues younger generations, and what she’d tell kids enduring similar scrutiny that she’s faced.
“I want to hug them, make them tea and tell them to live as long and as well as they can,” she told the outlet. “That there is an excellent chance that the longer they live, the smaller this moment will feel. That I wish them a life a million times more fascinating than this terrible moment.”
