Anne Hathaway claims being "chronically stressed" as a young woman while discussing roles in her early career

Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway recently looked back on her childhood and shared her experience with constant stress as a young actress.

On April 27, 2024, the 41-year-old appeared in the debut episode of The New York Times's The Interview podcast. While reflecting on the roles she played earlier in her career, she claimed that it is likely she played "chronically stressed out young women" because she was "a really stressed out young woman" off-screen.

"I was a really stressed out young woman. And as a formerly chronically stressed young woman, which leads to, you know, all manner of things, I just remember thinking one day, ‘You are taking this for granted, you are taking your life for granted,'" she said.

Hathaway is starring in the romantic comedy The Idea of You alongside Nicholas Galitzine. The film is scheduled to be released as an Amazon Prime Video exclusive on May 2, 2024.

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Anne Hathaway opens up on how she learnt to deal with stress

Anne Hathaway will appear in the movie The Idea of You as the character Solène, a single mum who begins an unexpected romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer, Hayes (played by Nicholas Galitzine).

On Saturday, the actress had a sit-down with David Marchese on The New York Times podcast The Interview, where they discussed her earlier roles and life. The actress talked about being a stressed-out young woman in the past and how she overcomes it now. She said:

"You have no idea. Something could fall through the sky, and that would be lights out.’ So when I find the old instincts rising, I just tell myself, ‘You are not going to die stressed.'"

The podcast host then asked Anne Hathaway what was the source of the stress. She responded:

"I didn’t know how to breathe yet. And that was really complicated. That was really, really complicated not knowing how to breathe. It’s actually too big an answer and the simple answer is literally everything. I was just very, very, very in my head, about a lot of things. I guess maybe that's the the easiest way to put it."

Anne Hathaway recalled that she felt "somatic" stress at that phase in her life, meaning she felt symptoms in her body as well as in her mind. She also talked to the host about overcoming the feeling. She shared:

"I just said, ‘You’re just going to have to accept that if nothing else happens to you, you’ve had a really great life. You have been given gifts and opportunities. And for you to continue to walk on this path, not being grateful, I don’t think that’s really who you are.’ It felt like a light went on."

The actress also expressed that she is now in her 40s and as a mother of two young boys, she said she has learned “to heal” her stress and “not relive it.”

Hathaway began her acting career in 1999, when she was cast in the television series Get Real, and has since appeared in more than 51 movies. She is most famous for starring in Les Misérables, The Dark Knight Rises, Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, and others.

Anne Hathaway married actor and producer Adam Shulman in September 2012. The couple share two sons, Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman and Jack Shulman.