Anne Hathaway says dealing with criticism from online trolls has made her a stronger person.
Speaking to Great Britain the Sun newspaper, the actress spoke about the negative attacks she found online shortly after winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2012 The miserable. Among the complaints she found: it was “boring” and “unpleasant”.
“I really don’t want to dig up the past, but I had my monster out there, I had the internet that called me and hated me and it was like a big deal,” she said. Sun, but added: “it was a very good thing for me personally”.
Hathaway, now a 38-year-old married woman and mother of two starring in the film Braided, explained that the abuse made her realize that her trust had to come from herself, not from the public. This lesson came at a crucial moment, emerging from her Oscar winning role as the tragic Fantine in The Miserable, which required her to cut her hair and lose weight.
“You should be happy,” she said of her big Oscar moment at the 2013 ceremony. “I didn’t feel that way.
“I felt wrong to be there in a dress that cost more than some people will see in your life and to win a prize for portraying the pain that was still part of our collective experience as human beings. I tried to pretend I was happy and I was called for that, big time. ”
In the end, she feels more “strengthened” for having resisted those difficult moments.
“You can have incredible power because of these things,” she said of facing adversity. “So, I think what I would say is that when the bad shit happens, don’t be afraid – just move on, flow with it.”
This echoes the advice she gave to climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2019, telling the teenager in an Instagram post that “under every bridge that has ever been built, there has also been a troll that comes with it – sometimes more than one.
“The bridge – that is, what connects and elevates – is more important than the troll,” she wrote. “Stay strong. Keep going.”
Hathaway – who credited her friendship for helping her deal with the situation – also shared her stress of being a mother to two boys while in prison. (She and her husband Adam Shulman share 4-year-old Jonathan and 1-year-old Jack.)
“In the early days of the blockade, we were all so overwhelmed and there was a lot to process and I needed a release, but I didn’t want to scare my kids, so I screamed a lot on the pillow,” she admitted.
“Adam is great,” she added. “If you’re going to be quarantined with another adult, my husband is the only one.”
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