In the 2000s, Anne Hathaway was everywhere. She won over fans with The Princess Diaries, wowed critics with Brokeback Mountain, and pretty much became a pop culture staple after The Devil Wears Prada.
But then, suddenly, her career took a rude shock. Around early 2010, it seemed that the Internet, and even much of Hollywood, had turned on her.It all started when people called her “Hathahati”. For several years, Hathaway has been the subject of memes, online jokes, and incessant criticism. The media also piled in. However, I managed to cut through all the noise. With some patience, smart moves, and a desire to reinvent herself, she found her way again.
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The “Hattahat” backlash: What happened?
So, what sparked the backlash? According to Entertainment Weekly, the show began in 2011 when Anne Hathaway co-hosted the Academy Awards with James Franco. The show itself was a mess, and the hosts allegedly had no chemistry at all. Franco even joked that Hathaway’s high energy made him seem cold, which made things worse for her. After the concert, suddenly, people started picking apart Hathaway’s character, calling her “too perfect” or fake.
Some even went on to claim that her interviews appeared to be rehearsed, as if she was acting even when she wasn’t on set.Per Entertainment Weekly, things came to a head during the 2013 awards season. Hathaway won an Oscar for Les Misérables for her performance as Fantine. However, instead of celebrating, the internet was filled with negative memes and clips. The headlines mocked her. People described her as annoying or too serious.
Oddly enough, no one can really explain why they hated it so much, but the “Hathahate” label certainly stuck.And this wasn’t just a bunch of internet trolls. The backlash began to creep into her actual career. Hathaway later admitted in interviews that some filmmakers didn’t want to cast her because her online reputation had become too toxic.“A lot of people didn’t give me roles because they were worried about how precarious my online identity was,” she told Vanity Fair.
It was almost incomprehensible: she was an Oscar winner at her peak, and suddenly the doors started closing.
The one man who helped turn the tide
Even though Hathaway was going through one of the toughest phases of her career, not everyone turned away from her. Christopher Nolan, who had already cast her to play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, brought her back for Interstellar in 2014. The film was a huge hit, and with its success, people remembered how good Hathaway really was.Per Entertainment Weekly, Anne called Nolan her “guardian angel” for giving her that shot when others wouldn’t.
This role helped reset her image, at least a little.
Steady return from backlash
After Nolan’s push with Interstellar, Hathaway changed things up. I stopped chasing only big movies and started choosing more unexpected roles. She starred in the movie “The Intern” with Robert De Niro, played a completely gay character in the movie “Colossal,” and stole the show in the movie “Ocean’s 8.” These films allowed her to show a more relaxed and fun side, which helped people see her in a new light.She did not just commit to acting. Hathaway began producing as well. In 2024, she starred in and produced the film The Idea of You, in which she played a divorced mother who falls in love with a younger pop star. The film was a huge hit, and reminded everyone how magical she was on screen.Now, as part of a “career renaissance,” Anne Hathaway is balancing artistic projects, streaming and big studio films. She has a busy schedule: she’s teamed up again with Nolan for The Odyssey, then there’s Mother Mary with David Lowery, a sci-fi movie called Flowervale Street, an adaptation of Verity, and even The Devil Wears Prada 2, a sequel to the previous film, with the original cast.All of this shows how much things have changed. Hathaway is in a new phase now: she’s got creative freedom, the audience is back on her side, and it’s not just a comeback story; It’s proof that you can survive Hollywood’s strangest storms.
