Anne Hathaway is an important part of the Ocean’s Eight ensemble – she plays the actress with the diamonds, who may or may not be “in” on the heist. I was really happy to see Hathaway take on this kind of role in an ensemble of women, and it’s good to see her play “glamorous,” you know? To promote the film, Anne covers the June-July issue of Glamour, and this interview really isn’t all that glamorous. It’s not bad, really, it just feels like Anne is still thinking about the “Hatha-hate” era of her public life, circa 2013. We’ve all moved on from that, haven’t we? I guess not. You can read the full Glamour piece here. Some highlights:
She doesn’t care about the Hatha-hate anymore & she doesn’t care if you like her: “I’m interested in living a very honest life. I don’t know if that makes me a boring person. I don’t really care if it does. It would be easier if I was better at being misleading or sneaky. I know how all that stuff works. I’m not a naive idiot. I know if I was a little bit mean to everybody, people would be like, ‘Oh, she’s fun. I like her. Come have a drink.’ And I’m just like, ‘Can we have a drink and not try to tear each other apart?’”
Motherhood & her son Johnny: “How Johnny is going to feel about himself will have so much to do with how I feel about myself in front of him. If I’m feeling insecure, I am very careful that I don’t show that. But I also work really hard to acknowledge that place, give room for that place, and then release myself from that place. I’m more loving now, and that includes toward myself.”
Abuses within Hollywood: “I’ve had a 20-year career and I’ve had some really, really bad experiences, but I’ve had a lot of great ones too—with members of both genders… While they do not begin to approach the atrocious, galling stories others have shared in recent months, I have had negative on-set experiences, some of a sexual nature. Some are from the beginning of my career, some are more recent—all are unacceptable.”
Why she got involved with Time’s Up: “But it’s not just being an actress. Being a 35-year-old cisgendered woman who has experienced the everyday, abusive imbalance of the world also made me want to be a part of a movement for change…. I know the world can be far worse for others than it has been to me, but I suppose, like most everyone who has been hurt, I want to protect others from going through the worst of what I experienced.”
Dealing with men in the industry: “I think that there’s got to be some guys who get high off the power. But in a lot of cases, it’s an echo chamber. Most guys have never seen anything different.”
On trying to get ahead of Bump Watch: “I didn’t feel like dealing with the pregnancy rumors. I find it bizarre that there’s a storm to get ahead of, but I have a history of being shamed and humiliated, for a lot of different reasons.”
A history of rage: “I have a history with rage. I used to do this thing where I was like, ‘I’m nice 29 days out of 30, and then I give myself complete permission to be a bitch to anyone, about anything.’ I realized that if I could actually move away from the judgment and deal with my emotions in the moment, I didn’t actually need the extra day. Rage doesn’t lead you to a place of peace. And for me the goal is not happiness. The goal is peace.”
I can’t even imagine saving up my anger for 29 days and then unloading it on one day on any given month. Unless I’m crazy PMS-ing, in which I case I’m screaming at everyone and everything. But really – who does that? Who saves up their anger like that? It doesn’t seem healthy, so I’m glad she’s no longer doing that. That being said, Anne’s all over the place – she talks about rage, but at the beginning, she’s basically saying that she’s not going to be mean or bitchy just to be cool. Like, she thinks her biggest problem is that people think she’s too nice?
As for the rest of it… Anne doesn’t owe us her stories of abuse and harassment throughout her career. Some women wanted to talk about it and some women didn’t, and that’s completely their choice. But I still feel a little bit iffy about all of the CAA actresses (which Anne is) going all-in for Time’s Up. Time’s Up is fine, and hopefully it will do a lot of good. But it also feels… like CAA, as an agency, is covering their own complicit asses and using actresses like Anne as a shield.
Cover courtesy of Glamour, additional photo courtesy of Getty.
The lady doth protest too much, me thinks. She obviously still very much cares if people find her likeable. It’s hard to drop that mindset. I find Anne too try hard, but I do hope you one day she finds that peace.
Wow. This comment says more about you than her. I’m so confused at why she became the one that everyone wanted to kick and here you are still trying to kick her even though she is clearly level-headed, moved past this and is living her life in peace. I guess people (why is it almost always women against other women?) need someone to kick and once you lock in, you just can’t let it go. She’s gorgeous, in her prime, happy with a family but no, you just have to keep picking. #Bully
She’s the best thing in Oceans 8, according to the critics. Good for her.👍
Yeah, I just read that from a couple of critics. That actually is quite a feat considering the company she is in.
The Ricky Gervais and Taylor Swift school of “I dont care what other people think” while constantly talking about it and tweeting positive reviews.
What’s wrong with tweeting positive reviews?
I didn’t read that as her still talking about the Hatha-hate era.
I’m looking forward to Oceans 8, and her role looks interesting.
I didn’t either. People are super obsessed with the hate, and it comes out still in the wording in articles about her. It’s so bizarre. I genuinely like her and she sounds like she’s doing well.
She irritates the hell outta me. On screen, off screen, in print, no matter what. I’ve seen very few movies of hers that I’ve enjoyed.
I’ve never understood the extreme hate against Anne Hathaway. It’s not like she’s ever done something bad (like a racist tirade), she just projects an imagine that some people might find irritating, but the fact so many get so involved in the hate shows you how strange our current world is, in which we really think like we know these celebrities and know why they do or say things and feel the right to let them know what we think of them in often rude ways.
So true.
Agreed. As with the first comment above and subsequent ones, it’s just this bullying that women seem to do toward each other and I will never understand it. And unfortunately she’s in the public eye so rather than a few workplace or neighborhood bullies, it’s bullies by the millions based on what? B.S. I purposely like Anne more than I would otherwise to offset the negative energy that some people seem to keep perpetuating for no good reason and based on nothing.
I have never understood why people hate her. She’s nice, sweet, sunshiny. I think people tend to hate Pollyanna type women who are nice, personable and pleasant for some reason. They are easy to s on because they are passive. Anne has never done anything awful except hustle for her career and why shouldn’t she? The hate for a lovely young woman is very odd in the face of other evils in the world.
#truth I have to say, the whole situation with Anne really hits home for me having been on the receiving end of such bullying by other women to the point of serious abuse and I can’t for the life of me figure out why, like what’s the need. But I guess haters are gonna hate. Nothing else to do but bully and crap on others especially other women. If it hadn’t damaged me so much, I would say f- it but that kind of damage takes a lot to unravel especially if it begins when one is young.
I thought that was a pic of MARGOT ROBBIE w/ brown hair!! Crazy angle.
I’ve always like Anne. Nice person, seems like someone one could talk to and hang out with. Hope she stays successful.
I love Anne. I have seen her in her When Margot get Married to the Intern and she can do it all! Definitely one o f my favorites. I think there is some jealousy concerning her and why people dislike her! Someone mentioned that people like to hate on her “sunshine-y persona,” and I think that is the case with her.
LOVE Anne! I wish I knew her and we could be friends IRL. Never understood the hate. She has always been a class act, and aside from her Oscars campaign – that one brief time across her 20-yr career – she has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. Re: all the hate, people are always looking for something to hate on. I wish she had a tv show so I could see her on the screen more often.
I love her.
she’s irritating. her interview answers don’t even make sense – and she’s so bloody… sanctimonious!! Ergh i think she comes across as a whingey, entitled brat who’s read some big words that she uses to try to sound enlightened.
I dont hate her but find her insufferable. I dont care enough about her to hate her
I think that when the entire internet decides to hate you en masse for a collection of fairly insipid reasons, you’re allowed to still be salty about it 5 years later. She was basically the public victim of a vicious campaign of bullying that necessitated in her stepping away from all social media for a long time. It wasn’t fair and she didn’t deserve it. The whole thing still baffles me to this day and I’m not even a fan of hers.