Why Anne Hathaway stopped being a 'chronically stressed out young woman'
Just like her role as overworked assistant Andy Sachs in the hit 2006 film Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway revealed that in her younger days, she was really a "stressed out young woman."
Talking to David Marchese on The New York Times podcast The Interview, the 41-year-old actress reflects on the roles she played earlier in her career and the fragility of life. She said she likely played "chronically stressed out young women" while indicating that she has learned to relax as she's gotten older.
"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,'" Anne stated.
The Princess Diaries star also pointed out that "literally everything" during her younger days in Hollywood freaked her out.
"I was just very, very, very in my head, about a lot of things. I guess maybe that's the easiest way to put it," she explained.
'Somatic' stress at the time
The Idea of You actress revealed that she felt "somatic" stress at the time. According to Cleveland Clinic, Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is a mental health condition in "which a person feels significantly distressed about physical symptoms and has abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in response to them," hence disrupting their daily functioning and quality of life.
To cope with her stress, the actress said, she drank alcohol.
"My personal experience with it is that everything is better. For me, it was wallowing fuel. And I don't like to wallow," she explained to Vanity Fair of her relationship with alcohol," she said.
Hathaway also told Machese that being grateful more frequently and settling her life positively transformed her into a more relaxed person. According to her, this was her way of creating a "beautiful concept of surrender."
The WeCrashed star then implied that being "hard on herself would not help her achieve more in life."
"In order to keep that narrative alive, I was going to have to deny so much. 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."
She continued, "Like I said, I'm more grateful. I'm more settled in myself. I'm less afraid of things not happening."
In March, Hathaway revealed that she had a miscarriage during the run of her 2015 Broadway show, where she had to play a pregnant woman onstage every night.
In 2019, Hathaway openly talked about dealing with fertility problems as she announced her second pregnancy on Instagram. In the caption, she sent "extra love" to those who were "going through infertility and conception hell."
Hathaway now has two children—7-year-old Jonathan and 3-year-old Jack—with her husband, actor Adam Shulman. They have been married since 2012.