It’s been nearly five years since Anne Hathaway tied the knot with husband Adam Shulman in a fairytale California wedding, and while she’s mostly remained private about her marriage, the actress is now opening up like never before about how her marriage has shaped her life for the better.
Taking the cover of Elle’s latest issue in a sultry blush pink dress, the Oscar-winning star speaks candidly about her family with the magazine. “He changed my ability to be in the world comfortably,” she says about her better half. “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.”
Last March, the couple welcomed their first child, Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman, which prompted Hathaway to champion for paid parental leave in the U.S. as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations. “I experienced a shift in consciousness,” she said about giving birth while addressing the U.N. on International Women’s Day. “Somehow we and every American parent were expected to be back to normal in under three months without income.”
Sitting down with Elle, Hathaway echoes the sentiments expressed in her moving speech: “I can’t believe we don’t already have it,” she tells the publication. “When [my son] Johnny was a week old and I was holding him and I was in the ninth level of ecstasy, I just all of a sudden thought, ‘Mommy guilt is invented nonsense.’ We’re encouraged to judge each other, but we should be turning our focus to the people and institutions who should be supporting us and currently aren’t.”
Hours after delivering her speech, Hathaway celebrated the moment by reliving the footage with her son, and sharing the very first look at her baby boy. “JRS watching Mommy give her speech at the UN yesterday #forourboys #forourgirls #forthefuture#loveislove #parentsareparents#paidparental,” she captioned the aww-worthy snapshot.
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The candid interview also saw Hathaway shed light on Hollywood’s hottest topic — gender equality. As a vocal advocate of the issue, the 34-year-old opened up on the issue and touched upon her eye-opening experience on the set of her recent project, the female-led “Ocean’s Eight”:
For more from Hathaway’s revealing interview pick up Elle’s April issue, on newsstands March 22.