The Shady Side Of Anne Hathaway Everyone Ignores

A fresh-faced, 16-year-old Anne Hathaway first burst onto the scene in 1999, starring in "Get Real," an obscure television series that lasted only one season. But as Hathaway's star rose with "The Princess Diaries," "Ella Enchanted," and "The Devil Wears Prada," so did her professional, pristine image. When asked by Elle in 2022 what role changed everything for her and the trajectory of her career, she answered, "'The Princess Diaries,' of course," before also giving credit to "Rachel Getting Married" as well.

Alas, since then, the A-lister's reputation took a pretty gnarly beating, as Anne Hathaway became Hollywood's most hated celeb at one point. Enter: the Hathahate era. "A lot of people wouldn't give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online," she revealed during a candid interview with Vanity Fair in March 2024. Fortunately, as her career evolved, many were willing to put their blinders on as Anne Hathaway's stunning transformation from Disney star to serious Hollywood player overshadowed her questionable side.

Many actors are known for being intense on set, especially those who have been working from a very young age. Anne Hathaway is no different. "I was 17 when I made 'The Princess Diaries,'" she said during a 2008 interview with W Magazine. "I was at the nucleus of such a large organism, and Garry [Marshall] made me feel that I was the most important person on set every day. And from there ... sometimes when I would talk to adults, they would be taken aback by how forward I was. And I was very oblivious to it."

Alas, Hathaway's particular style of interacting with colleagues eventually caused her to pause, look inward, and take stock of her on-set behavior. According to Hathaway, while filming "Rachel Getting Married," filmmaker Jonathan Demme made a change in the script. But instead of simply acquiescing, she immediately began interrogating him as to why he made the edit and launched into her own passionate monologue as to why the original script was better. "He smiled at me and said, 'Hey, Annie? Maybe instead of telling me why I'm wrong, you could ask me why I made the choice I made,'" she recounted about the life-changing moment. "I didn't mean to be disrespectful to people, but that's exactly what I had done for years," she acknowledged. Oopsie.

Alas, it's not just Anne Hathaway's demeanor on set that raised eyebrows. In 2012, Hathaway went full on Method acting and dropped 25 pounds for her starring role in the musical film, "Les Misérables." Even the film's director, Tom Hooper, took issue with the actor's dramatic weight loss. "To be honest, I thought she was going further than she should, and I tried to discourage her," Hooper told the Los Angeles Times. 

Hathaway was adamant that while Hooper wasn't necessarily on board with it, he understood why she was doing it. "No one liked what I was doing. By the end, people were hugging me and they would get emotional because I felt so frail," she added.

Years later, Hathaway confessed to People in a 2019 interview that the dramatic weight loss affected her long after "Les Miserables" had wrapped and she regretted the creative choice. "I'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight in two weeks," she revealed. "I didn't know anything about nutrition. I taxed my body, and my brain bore the brunt of it for a while. I just felt very anxious and very lost at that time."

We would be remiss not to tackle the elephant in room that is Anne Hathaway's relationship with con-man Raffaello Follieri, aptly dubbed the "Vati-Con." The story goes that the pair met in New York City in 2004 while Follieri was building his scam empire. The con-man bilked wealthy investors by pretending he was assisting the Catholic Church in selling off real estate properties thanks to his supposedly deep, personal ties with the Vatican. Somewhere along the way he upped the ante by infiltrating elite circles that included the likes of Bill Clinton, John McCain, and even the world's richest man at the time, Carlos Slim. Follieri took some of them for a ride — all with Hathaway on his arm.

Alas, Follieri's scam came to a screeching halt in 2008. Hathaway called off the relationship for good, and 10 days later, Follieri was arrested by the FBI on June 24, 2008. That following September, he pleaded guilty to various white collar crimes including wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy before being sentenced to four and a half years behind bars.

"It's a situation where the rug was pulled out from under me all of a sudden," Hathaway told W Magazine in October 2008 about Follieri's high-profile arrest. While Hathaway was never directly implicated in any of Follieri's crimes, her judge of character has certainly been called into question given that she carried on a relationship with the con-man for four years. Hey, maybe she just liked the idea of him.

The devil (who wears Prada) works hard but Kris Jenner works harder — and it appears Anne Hathaway may have learned that lesson the hard way. In 2016, Hathaway made headlines when she seemingly shaded the Kardashians with an Instagram meme. "In a world of Kardashians ... Be a Helena Bonham Carter," the meme read (via Mirror). Ruh-roh.

In reality (no pun intended) Hathaway uploaded the meme simply as a nod to her co-star, Helena Bonham Carter, and their upcoming film, "Alice Through The Looking Glass." She even referenced Bonham Carter's role in the film with a caption that said, "(Red) Queen." Sadly, many Kardashian fans didn't pick up on that cue and immediately came rushing to the famous family's defense.

In a turnabout move, Hathaway deleted the controversial post and replaced it with another that read, "Post removed for unintended shade thrown." She then took it a step further by penned a personal note in the caption. "It never occurred to me I was pitting anyone against each other. Not my style. Peace x." And, scene!

Unfortunately, in 2020, Anne Hathaway found herself in the midst of another scandal. Following the debut of "The Witches," Hathaway quickly became under fire for her portrayal of the Grand High Witch, an evil witch who appeared to have oligodactyly, a genetic condition wherein an individual is born with less than 10 fingers or 10 toes. In this case, Hathaway's character was depicted as having three long fingers on each hand. 

Hathaway's portrayal prompted many with various limb differences and disabilities to participate in the #notawitch campaign. "Limb difference is not scary. Differences should be celebrated and disability has to be normalised," the official Paralympics Games account tweeted in a statement. 

Following the backlash, Anne Hathaway apologized for her role in "The Witches" and the pain it caused. "As someone who really believes in inclusivity and really, really detests cruelty, I owe you all an apology for the pain caused. I am sorry. I did not connect limb difference with the GHW when the look of the character was brought to me; if I had, I assure you this never would have happened," she wrote in a lengthy statement. She also included a video from the Lucky Fin Project, a nonprofit organization created to raise awareness and celebrate those born with limb differences.