Anne Hathaway: ‘I’ve realized that don’t need validation from anybody. At all.’

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Anne Hathaway covers the November issue of Elle UK. I actually can’t remember the last time Annie did a major magazine cover/interview. It’s been more than a year, I’m quite sure. I think maybe the last time was during her January/February 2013 Oscar campaign? According to our records, yes – she covered the February 2013 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. It helps nowadays that Annie A) has something big to promote (Interstellar) and B) she’s given all us a big break from the Hathamadness. For the record, I’ve always been a Hathaway Apologist. Even when she was annoying, I still enjoyed her. Speaking of those old “annoying Annie” days, Annie spoke to Elle about how fame really messed with her head:

What she’s learned: “The thing I’ve learned this past year is to chill out. I think when you’re young and struggling to find yourself, there’s something alluring about the idea of being tortured. Life for me these days is a lot about letting the unknown be wonderful, and letting myself feel safe.”

Marrying Adam Shulman: “The first year of my marriage was insane. So much happened so fast, and we didn’t get to focus on just being married until about a year in. So now, it’s just about letting myself feel safe. There was a part of me that I was keeping in reserve, and when I got married, something shifted…That question of, ‘How long’s this gonna last?’ is off the table. And when you’re not worried about that, there’s space to just be silly.”

Fame: “This fame thing? F–ked me up for a really long time. I didn’t know how to do it; I didn’t know how to engage with it; it stressed me out. And people would say, ‘You just have to be yourself,’ and I was like, ‘But I don’t know who that is yet!'”

Working with Matthew McConaughey: “The man speaks in poetry. I remember once while we were filming, something got screwed up, and he said to me: ‘Look, we can get upset about this, or we can go with it and have a great story for the rest of our lives.'”

Annie doesn’t need your validation: “I’ve realized that don’t need validation from anybody. At all. I’m not sitting here now worrying, ‘What do you think of me?’ With all due respect, you seem like a lovely lady, but I don’t need you, or anyone else, to like me. And that’s so liberating. It’s a big reveal, man.”

[From Elle UK & E! News]

Dear Annie: bulls—t!! “I don’t need you, or anyone else, to like me.” That’s not really who you are, Anne. I’m not saying I know Anne Hathaway or her innermost needs and desires, but she’s always struck me as a capable, professional but neurotic woman with something of a diva streak. She doesn’t NEED people to like her, and she’s perfectly capable of understanding that logically and rationally. But in practice… she’s still the same needy, neurotic, LOOK AT ME person she always was. Remember, this is the woman who flashed her biscuit as part of her Oscar campaign. NEVER FORGET!

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Photos courtesy of Kai Z Feng/ELLE UK.

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67 Responses to “Anne Hathaway: ‘I’ve realized that don’t need validation from anybody. At all.’”

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  1. Jaderu says:

    “It’s a big reveal, man”
    At some point over the last year Anne was possessed by the spirit of Cheech Marin.

  2. Kiddo says:

    Insufferable in her Oscar campaigning and in her acceptance speech. I don’t hate her, but she’s full of it. Or she got her validation and now has moved past it. We can only hope.

    • LadyMTL says:

      Yeah, I’ve never hated her but I agree, she was full of it. At points I found she got so “look at meeeee” desperate that it was embarrassing. I hope she has moved past it, so at least I’ll never have to suffer through that again, lol.

      • Kiddo says:

        I think she was on the verge of this new persona during that time, or this is who she is. Hard to tell. But she started wearing the darker/edgier attire and went commando, remember that?

      • LadyMTL says:

        @Kiddo How could I forget? LOL. That’s part of the reason I hope she is sincere, because doing something like that (beav flashing) just for attention is really sad.

  3. savu says:

    Even if she’s just pretending, I’m liking her as Annie Badass. And I LOVE the cover!

    Also just wanna throw in there I’d never been attracted to Matthew McConaughey EVER until True Detective. It’s probably just a residual love for the dark bad boys, but I don’t care.

    I hate space though so we’ll see if I see this movie. I am curious to see how the public reacts to it though.

  4. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    Poor Anne. She’s still floundering around trying to find her footing.

  5. teatimeiscoming says:

    Well, somebody needed to validate her “talent” so that she could be cast and star in movies, so, no.

  6. Tapioca says:

    A compliment sandwich:

    She looks great on the cover and I love that she’s kept her hair short.

    No other actress I can think of gives off stronger “Like me! Like me! Please like me!” vibes than Anne Hathaway. Bish please…

    She was perfectly acceptable in TDKR as the first female character Chris Nolan wrote who didn’t make me stabby and I am very much looking forward to Interstellar.

    • TheOriginalKitten says:

      Agree on all counts.

      There’s something really wonderful about Anne’s acting, but she needs to be liked, it’s just who she is.

    • mia girl says:

      Yup. I think she has the perfect combination of unbridled ambition and the insatiable need for validation. Add some youth into the mix and it caused her to throw herself into that Oscar campaign with these two things driving every action. It’s like she followed a “how to win an Oscar” handbook word for word, with no nuance or tact. Result – try hard.

      So, I see her realization more about not letting her ambition/career/brand be based on validation… she’ll still want the accolades, but she just won’t go about it by trying to make everyone like her along the way.

      But make no mistake, she still needs it. It’s who she is.
      Embrace it Anne like Sally Field’s did – “You like me, you really like me!”

      • LIVEALOT says:

        perfect

      • Virgilia Coriolanus says:

        I understand Sally Field’s “You like me, you really like me!” a whole lot more than Anne’s tryhardness at every single awards show she’s ever been nominated for. At the Oscar Roundtable that Sally did when she was up for her role in Lincoln, she talked about how movie actors and tv actors didn’t go back and forth. If you started in tv, you ended in tv. Very few had done it–and those were men. So I understand her freaking out when she won an Oscar for a MOVIE, when she started out as the Flying Nun.

        Anne however is just a try hard. And I don’t think she’s that good. She’s had maybe three or four roles in her entire career that stand out (Brokeback Mountain, Rachel Getting Married, Les Miserables), and the rest of them are crap. And all of them, imo, are roles that anyone else could’ve played, and maybe done it better. I’ve never seen a movie of hers where I thought she absolutely nailed it. I think that she’s okay, but nothing special.

      • mia girl says:

        @VG – Yes, forsure Sally Field is much more palatable and composed than Anne. But I’m old enough to remember that in her day Sally’s enthusiasm also rubbed some folks the wrong way. Either way Sally > Anne. Except maybe for fashion.

        I do like Hathaway as an actress though and think she has potential to be a really good actress. I just wish she would let us all get passed “AnnE” so we can enjoy her acting again. And I think that is exactly what she is trying to do. Even if we all know she still is a tryhard inside, here’s hoping (based on this interview) she’s done with rubbing it in our faces.

    • don't kill me i'm french says:

      +1

    • Lex says:

      Haha aww… I thought you called her a complicated sandwich and thought it was a cute analogy but then I reread it…

  7. Calabar says:

    Maybe she has grown, am really happy for her if she has come to that stage of not caring. Is very hard to do when you a celebrity.

    • Leftovers says:

      This is how I have read it, too.

      • Betty says:

        Yes, it’s also how I read it. Perhaps she needed public validation previously but has since grown from that experience and is now comfortable with who she is. I never understood the vitriol toward Anne Hathaway. Maybe she was try hard, but she did so in a theater geek way that led me to give her a pass.

    • lucy2 says:

      I thought the same as well. I hope she’s sincere about it, because I imagine she’d be a lot happier without worrying so much what people thought.
      She was definitely annoying and over excited during her Oscar run, but I give her credit, she laid low for a long time after that. It sounds like she has grown up.
      She’s a very talented actress, IMO, and I can’t wait to see Interstellar.

  8. Julie says:

    I don’t believe her. She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. She’s so anxious and try hard.

  9. HK9 says:

    You say you don’t need any validation AnnE?? So, it’s ok for me to take that Oscar back right??? Yeah..right…

  10. Santolina says:

    In other words, “I care too much what others think and I’m trying to come to terms with it.” Please, she’s an actress. She performs for others. By definition, she has to care what others think to support her livelihood. If that’s messing with her head, maybe she needs to find another profession.

  11. bns says:

    Can’t stand her, but I love that cover.

  12. Lex says:

    I don’t need validation from anyone! !! (Except the Oscar’s voting panel)

  13. Sozual says:

    Anne is rich, beautiful, and even more importantly sweet. I do think people can get out into the industry and become angry and bitter. Personal attacks outside and inside the industry can do that to a person, but they have to be tough. Anne has been a sugar doll her whole career. All she does is work and doesn’t put down anyone. I saw her in person in NYC and she was a sweetheart to fans and looked so old school Hollywood.

    People on the internet and gossip sites think they could be Stewart, Rock, Chapelle, Short, Colbert, and etc. People’s gossip site jokes are as lazy and weak as Miley Cyrus’ vocals and stage performances.

  14. serena says:

    The cover shoot looks really really good. As far as the main quote goes…Anne, please, don’t kid yourself (and us). None believes that.
    If only she were a bit more humble she would annoy me less.

    ps not only she flashed her biscuit she even wore that ill-fitting nipple dress.

  15. Kiki says:

    I was an apologist to anne Hathaway’s demeanor, and I also defended her for it by saying at least she is not a goop who tells people how to live their lives perfectly. But Anne have to feed you to the wolves on this one but I still love.

    Why can’ t you be humble and except things the way it is. You are an actress you gets constant praise, but I would appreciate you more you could just say I don’t really like the constant praise of my acting calibre, but what do I know I am not an egocentric maniac like yourself.

  16. Luciana says:

    Me thinks the flashing biscuit wasn’t on purpose.

    • Jaderu says:

      I don’t think it was intentional. I just think that she was getting so much bad press and going on her “look at me” parade then it happened and poured gasoline on the fire.

    • don't kill me i'm french says:

      It was not intentional for sure

    • Julie says:

      She was wearing a borrowed dress that she had to return and wasn’t wearing underwear. So disgusting.

  17. Rachel says:

    She’s still annoying.

  18. celia says:

    I took her comments very differently. Taking her at her word, this new mindset has to be a direct reaction to the desperate grasping of her Oscar campaign. Like the harsh experience of that is what made her sit up and look in the mirror and realize all the external validation was bull and all her efforts not helpful to actually being happy.

    It’s easy to be self confident when you’re an academy award winner… But I hope she’s sincere, here. If true, good for her for growing.

    • TheOriginalKitten says:

      Yeah I got a bit of that from her interview as well. Looking back, I think she realizes that she overdid it. I bet she’s a bit embarrassed.

  19. Blythe says:

    I have always sensed a bit of insecurity from Anne Hathaway for a long time. Then again, all actresses and actors are insecure people.

  20. Arya Martell says:

    I can’t say I hate Anne but she irks me. She tries way too hard and she just comes off as inauthentic and this interview just seems to be another example of that. She could be a nice person but I think she’s like one of my students who annoys me to no end because she freaks out when she doesn’t get an A on an assigment. I think of Anne in the same light.

  21. Lisa says:

    The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.

  22. ella says:

    Good, because I don’t!

  23. pandabird says:

    How does one “focus on being married?” What a weird way to view marriage/union. Now, if you will excuse me I have to go focus on my marriage. LOL.

    • Jaderu says:

      LOL +1
      I’m going to sit very close to my husband tonight and just stare at him. “Shhhh…I’m focusing on our marriage babe…just let it happen…don’t struggle”.

  24. Dany says:

    She wants that people like her and is too sensitive to handle it when people don´t like her. That doesn´t mean she is a bad person. Sometimes the comments here sound as if this woman is the devil. She tries too hard to make you like her, thats all. Hardly a crime.

    • alas says:

      i get it..i was the same way,thats why i was never mean to anyone but people are/were mean to me..i get where she is coming from.i also think she didnt get enough love from mom

  25. wow says:

    Funny how they always come to this realization of not needing anyone to validate her AFTER the mockery she made of herself during her Oscar campaign. It worked, she won her Oscar, but since people got so annoyed with her and still haven’t warmed to her, she claims she doesn’t need validation. Bwahaha. You could have fooled me, Anne.

  26. mzizkrizten says:

    The entertainment industry is by definition a “look at me” career trajectory. They all want attention.

  27. KatyD says:

    I found her desperation for an Oscar annoying when she did her campaign, but it’s not enough for me to dislike her forever. I really liked her in Jane and a few other movies. As an actress, she can be good in some roles. So, Anne can worm her way back into my good graces again. But let’s not do that Oscar fiasco again, capiche? You’re better than that. 🙂

  28. Nicole says:

    At the risk of validating: good for her.

  29. Josefa says:

    Anne’s the Swifty of the acting industry. She may be quite annoying at times, but she’s still inoffensive and at least acknowledges she was wrong and is still in the process of growing up. It’s not even a Hollywood thing, even irl it’s hard to find people who acknowledge their mistakes.

    I like Anne a lot and I can relate to a lot of the things she’s saying here. Especially the part about being yourself. It’s sad her career took such a hit after that campaign of doom, she’s quite talented.

  30. anne_000 says:

    That b&w photo has her arm looking weird. Like a big stump. It should have been shot a bit more at an angle rather than straight forward, imo.

  31. Chuck says:

    Anne Hathaway is Marnie from GIRLS?
    Anne Hathaway is a terrific actress. My favourite role of hers, far and way, was in Rachel Getting Married. Such a beautiful, incendiary film. Despite this, I do find her completely irritating when I read interviews with her, more so when I see interviews with her. It’s probably one of those irrational hatred things that you can’t really explain, but she just has this very cloying, a bit desperate, trying-way-too-hard-to-be-sweet vibe that I cannot even deal with.

  32. Barbara says:

    I have a soft spot for this woman….my 6′ granddaughter is her doppleganger (?) She has been told that by people since high school

  33. Meg says:

    I think the line of not needing validation was fed to her from a publicist. Her acceptance speech at one of the award shows included, ‘Thank you for this lovely blunt object that I will forevermore use as a weapon against self-doubt.’

  34. BadAssCompass says:

    nice cover, though I really don’t like her, she ruined Catwoman and now I’m going to have to see her in Interstellar, ugh. She should’ve sticked to indies and roles such as Rachel getting married, just go for character actress career and spare us all the annoyance while she matures. If ever.