Anne Hathaway reveals how she feels about the public’s opinion of her

She’s attracted criticism from a legion of ‘Hathahaters’, but the Oscar-winner exclusively reveals how she really feels about the public’s opinion of her.

There was a time when Anne Hathaway cared what people thought of her – but that time has long since passed.

In an exclusive interview with Stellar, the Oscar-winning actor discusses the challenges of raising two young sons (and tackling the laundry) during lockdown, the question she’s glad young women are no longer interested in, and why playing the villain is actually a return to her roots.

You have two young boys [Jonathan, four, and Jack, one, whom she shares with producer husband Adam Shulman]. What’s been the biggest challenge as a mother?

During the lockdown? Can I curse? The f**king laundry! But, you know, I’m always hesitant to frame things in the realm of challenges because I think it sets a tone. As a mum, I’ve found tonnes of opportunities.

There’s obviously a learning curve – you just have to be kind to yourself with that because you do feel like you’re doing everything wrong, especially in the early days. But it’s more than just a challenge.

“It doesn’t bother me in the slightest if people think of me as a sweet person.” (Picture: Gotham/GC Images)

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt during the pandemic?

The way we live and love is what we’ll be remembered by.

You play the Grand High Witch in a new remake of 1990’s hit film ‘The Witches’. What is it about villains that makes them so compelling?

The thing about villains is that they’re just so goddamned self-absorbed. They’re such narcissists. They walk around inflicting cruelty and sadly that feels all too familiar given what we’ve all been exposed to lately. I mean, if you hear anybody describing themselves as a genius… well, I’m just going to drop that piece of wisdom on you.

The Grand High Witch is really evil. Was she fun to play?

She was fun to play. There was a local theatre where I grew up in New Jersey called Paper Mill Playhouse, which had a great acting program for kids. I had the best teacher there, a woman by the name of Mickey McNany, and she always cast me as the villain in her productions. So in many ways, I’m actually returning to my roots.

Alcoholics, prostitutes, cat burglars, war journalists – your CV is incredibly diverse, but it’s been hard to shake the “good girl” image. Has that been frustrating at times?

What does “good girl” mean to you?

The thing about villains is that they’re just so goddamned self-absorbed. They’re such narcissists.” (Picture: ‘The Witches’)

Well, “sweet” is another adjective that’s often used in relation to you. [So sweet that in 2013, as she was on the awards circuit for her role in ‘Les Misérables’, she was seen as “too earnest” and therefore inauthentic, spawning a movement called Hathahate].

I haven’t felt fear surrounding being labelled for a very long time. Early on I was afraid of being boxed in as an actress, but it doesn’t bother me in the slightest if people think of me as a sweet person.

It would be ironic if you were now to become known as The Woman Who Gave Children Nightmares.

When Bob [director Robert Zemeckis] showed me that ear-splitting grin with the fangs, I thought: “Oh, this isn’t something that you can get out of your head. This is terrifying. I have to make her so funny in every other scene, I have to lean into the comedy of her and how ridiculous she is, because I need children to know you can laugh at her.”

That became this mission for me, making children realise that you can laugh at evil. That you have to stand up to it, but you can also laugh at it.

“We seem to get a little more into comparisons when it’s two women and we seem to get a little more excited when it’s two men.” (Picture: Getty Images)

Anjelica Huston made a big impression in the original film. Are you ready for the inevitable comparisons?

I just keep reminding myself that there have been, like, six Batmen and four Jokers and seven James Bonds. We seem to get a little more into comparisons when it’s two women and we seem to get a little more excited when it’s two men. I’m hoping all this soul searching that we have been doing lately has put us in a place where each performance can be celebrated for what it is.

Anjelica’s performance is flawless and it’s iconic and it’s just right for the film she’s in. My hope is that my performance is just right for the film that I’m in.

How did you make the character yours?

One of the things I enjoyed about playing her was her brazenness, which is a bit different from the book. In the book she seems like quite a sweet person.

I just thought, eh! [This Grand High Witch] is able to get away with so much because nobody stands up to her and says: “You’re awful. I’m not going to take this anymore.”

“When I started out, I used to get asked all the time: ‘Are you a good girl or are you a bad girl?’” (Picture: Supplied)

This new adaptation is set in ’60s Alabama, and the heroes are African-American. How much should we read into that?

It’s a really good question and it’s a worthy question. I think that’s a question for Bob rather than me.

I’m guessing from the behind-the-scenes make-up video you posted that you’re not claustrophobic.

I can be. That’s one of the things about getting to make movies for as long as I have: you realise your personal feelings just don’t matter most of the time. I remember I was on this one job where it had been a really long day and I came home and Jonny had a fever. I was up all night and then I had to go in the next day and shoot a three-page monologue.

I remember thinking: “It doesn’t matter if you’re tired – it’s film and it’s forever.” So I kind of learnt how not to be too carried away by any of my feelings and to just get on with it. I mean, it matters if you can’t breathe, but I could breathe.

What didn’t matter was whether or not I was afraid I couldn’t breathe.

Anne Hathaway stars on the cover of this Sunday’s Stellar.

Early in your career, you were compared to Judy Garland, who was just 13 when she was signed to MGM. Thankfully, you don’t seem to be nearly as damaged by the child-actor experience as she was.

There were so many things working against her in the time in which she lived, partly because she delivered an iconic performance at the age of 16 [in The Wizard Of Oz], and people probably, whether or not they meant to, were somewhat dismissive of her because they still saw her as a child.

And then, she was clearly in pain and needed help, and she was judged for that. But one of the things that was so miraculous about her was how intact her spirit was throughout her entire life. She refused to be defined by the way other people saw her.

You were only 18, so just a little older than Garland was when she filmed The Wizard Of Oz, when you filmed The Princess Diaries.

Even though it was only a few years later, they were important, formative years. And if my life is easier than hers, so much of that has to do with where we have arrived as a collective.

When I started out, I used to get asked all the time: “Are you a good girl or are you a bad girl?” It feels that, finally, young women have no interest in that question.

The Witches is in cinemas on December 10.

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