Anne Hathaway claims she was subtly told to lose weight for TV role

Anne Hathaway has revealed the not-so-subtle message she was given after landing a role on a comedy-drama TV series.

Anne Hathaway has revealed she was subtly told she needed to lose weight for a role when she was just 16 years old.

Back in 1999, after landing her first gig on short-lived comedy-drama TV series Get Real, the actress claims she was subtly told she needed to shed some kilograms.

“At 16 years old, it was ‘Congratulations, you have the part. I’m not saying you need to lose weight. I’m just saying don’t gain weight’,” Hathaway, 36, told Allure magazine in a new interview.

“Which, of course, means you need to lose weight.”

The TV series was Anne Hathaway’s breakout role.

Get Real, a story about a family in San Francisco, ran from September 1999 to April 2000.

Twenty years later, and the Oscar winner’s latest role (thriller The Last Thing He Wanted) has put her in the exact opposite situation — she was asked to gain 10 kilograms.

“I have (costume designer) Ane Crabtree asking me what my body does on my moon — which I realised meant my period — and so she can make adjustment for me,” Hathaway told the magazine. “It was just this beautiful thing.”

Hathaway at the LA premiere of The Hustle. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

The Princess Diaries star first revealed her intended weight gain in a blunt Instagram post last year.

“I am gaining weight for a movie role and it is going well,” Hathaway wrote to her followers.

“To all the people who are going to fat shame me in the upcoming months, it’s not me, it’s you. Peace xx.”