Anne Hathaway is yet another celebrity who has faced pressure from Hollywood about her looks.
“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.’ Which of course means you need to lose weight,” Hathaway, 36, recalled in Allure magazine’s September issue. She also shared the story with TODAY in 2018.
But Hathaway is cautiously hopeful that things are changing. While shooting her upcoming Netflix original film “The Last Thing He Wanted,” the costume designer came to Hathaway with a very different question.
“I have Ane Crabtree asking me what my body does on my moon — which I realized meant my period — so she can make adjustments for me,” Hathaway said. “It was just this beautiful thing. I am cautious in my praise of how Hollywood is shifting. There is so much more body inclusivity — which is great! — but the thin thing is definitely still the centralized ‘normal’ expectation.”
Hathaway announced on Instagram in 2018 that she would be gaining weight — 20 pounds to be exact — for her role in the political thriller, which costars Ben Affleck. “To all the people who are going to fat shame me in the upcoming months, it’s not me, it’s you,” she wrote in the caption.
A few weeks later, when Hathaway appeared on TODAY, she explained to Hoda Kotb that people are constantly talking about her body. She noted that some comments are “overt” and others are “kind of micro ones.”
Hathaway, who is mom to 3-year-old Jonathan, will welcome her second child with husband, Adam Shulman, in the fall. After the baby arrives, she will hopefully remember her own words of wisdom that she shared on Instagram when her son was still an infant.
“There is no shame in gaining weight during pregnancy (or ever). There is no shame if it takes longer than you think it will to lose the weight (if you want to lose it at all),” she wrote. “Bodies change. Bodies grow. Bodies shrink. It’s all love (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.)
The September issue of Allure hits newsstands on August 20.
