A-Line: Celebrity StyleAnne Hathaway: I Struggle With My Body Image Every Day
Reaching celebrity status doesn't make all of a person's self doubts disappear. Anne Hathaway, who is getting early Oscar buzz for her body-transforming role in "Les Misérables," opens up about her insecurities in the January issue of Glamour. And although the 30-year-old strutted around in that catsuit in "The Dark Knight Rises" earlier this year, she admits she struggles with her body image each and every day.
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"There's no magic bullet; there's no pill that you take that makes everything great and makes you happy all the time," the 30-year-old says. "I'm letting go of those expectations, and that's opening me up to moments of transcendent bliss. But I still feel the stress over, 'Am I thin enough? Am I too thin? Is my body the right shape?'" Asked by playwright and feminist Eve Ensler, who conducted the interview, if she struggles with her body image daily, Hathaway — who dropped 25 pounds for her role as dying prostitute Fantine in "Les Mis" — replies, "If I'm honest, yes. There's an obsessive quality to it that I thought I would've grown out of by now. It's an ongoing source of shame for me."
Hathaway says being a celebrity makes things even more challenging — because the world is watching and judging. "I just think about the ridicule you get if you have an off day," she says to Glamour. "If people weren't watching, I'd be so much more eccentric. I know it makes me sound weak, but rather than make myself happy and wear the silly hat and say, 'Oh, I don't care,' I actually really don't feel like getting made fun of. So I put on something boring and navy and go out and try to disappear."
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There is less hiding now that she is sporting a cropped 'do, which she snipped for her role in "Les Mis" and has learned to love. "I'd resolved to cut … it on-screen to make it feel real," she says about playing Fantine in the movie musical. "Then the morning came, and I was shaking like a leaf. I almost couldn't do my job. When it was over, I went to the darkest corner of my trailer and I looked in the mirror, and I saw my little brother!" But now? "Eventually I felt like the coolest girl in the world. … I'm a fairly shy person, and [in the past] on days when I didn't want to deal with the world, I'd wear a hat and pull my hair around me and hide. I can't do that now. I have to be me all the time."
Part of being Hathaway is enjoying life as a newlywed. The actress married actor-turned-jewelry designer Adam Shulman in Big Sur, California, on September 29, and she's embracing her role as a wife. "I feel like I've found my other half, and I'm so excited about getting to love him for the rest of our lives," she tells Glamour. "He's a good man. He's beyond intelligent. He loves fearlessly. His beliefs are beautiful. He's my best friend. I love him. I just feel that I have the greatest husband in the world for me."
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And with all the Hollywood divorces and breakups that hit the news, Hathaway doesn't mind being a marriage advocate. "There's not a lot of positive information out there about marriage," she says. "It's the old ball and chain, the seven-year itch, the divorce rate. Still, my parents have been married for 30 years; his parents have been married for 40 years. Mine had great moments and some really sh-tty moments. But they couldn't have been married to anyone else, and they make each other better."
For more of Hathaway's interview, pick up the January issue of Glamour, on newsstands December 11.
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