Anne Hathaway is opening up about how she dealt with the viral "Hathahate" movement at its peak.
If you've anywhere near the internet in the past decade, you've probably seen a post or two about how the Devil Wears Prada star is "the worst" or, at the very least, an overly excited and incredibly annoying "theater kid" type. An online consensus with unclear origins, the only thing we really know is that it became trendy to hate her around the time she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the 2013 Oscars for her role in Les Misérables, with many at the time accusing her of projecting a faux earnestness and an "air of self-importance."
However, people haven't really been able to give any concrete reasons for their hatred, which has led to more than a few arguments about the unfounded movement being driven by an underlying current of misogyny. But throughout all of this, Hathaway hasn't really been given the opportunity to defend herself either, aside from a few quotes about being “shocked” by the Hathahate. That said, she's finally tackled the issue head-on by addressing the 10-year campaign and the way it's deeply impacted almost every aspect of her life during a recent speech at ELLE's Women in Hollywood event, saying that many fail to realize was that there's a huge "difference between existence and behavior."
“Ten years ago, I was given an opportunity to look at the language of hatred from a new perspective,” the 38-year-old actress said. “For context – this was a language I had employed with myself since I was 7. And when your self-inflicted pain is suddenly somehow amplified back at you at, say, the full volume of the internet.. It’s a thing.”
And even though the experience was tough for many years, Hathaway also said that she eventually came to realize that the hate "wasn't it" and that she had "no desire to have anything to do with this line of energy” or “create art from this place.”
"I would no longer hold space for it, live in fear of it, nor speak its language for any reason, to anyone," as she went on to say before adding, "Including myself.”
You can read ELLE's full recap of Hathaway's Women in Hollywood speech here.
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