Anne Hathaway is one of the world’s most recognizable movie stars but that didn’t prevent her from having overwhelming feelings of insecurity.
Opening up for a new People cover story, the Oscar-winning “Les Miserables” star says, “I did everything so wrong for so long,” admitting that even as her career soared she was overcome by “feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and nervousness and anxiety” to the point it was affecting her health.
“I’m not big on looking back,” says Hathaway, 36, “but I remember 10 years ago being so scared going into the whole awards season and doing what I thought I was supposed to do, so I barely ate anything at Christmas… I thought movie stars had to have a certain body. I was just smoking, just smoking my nerves away and wasn’t nourishing myself.”
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She credits her marriage to producer Adam Shulman, 37, and becoming a mother — the couple share a two-year-old son, Jonathan — for helping her accept herself and live a more grounded life.
“I just figured out how to say thank you to life by taking care of myself. By not apologizing for taking up space, which is not something I knew how to do 10 years ago.”
The way Hathaway sees it, “It’s been a journey. I don’t look that different but I just feel like the inside has transformed so much.”
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Currently seen alongside Matthew McConaughey in “Serenity”, which has received mixed reviews, Hathaway offers some advice to critics.
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” she explains. “What I appreciate is when the negativity has some intelligence behind it. What I don’t like is lazy negativity. If you’re going to take someone down, have a point of view! Be witty, maybe pun a little!”
You can read more with Anne Hathaway in the latest issue of People, which hits newsstands on Friday, Feb. 1.
