Anne Hathaway Used to Be a ‘Chronically Stressed Young Woman’

Anne Hathaway talked about the stress she experienced in her early career during a recent interview for The New York Times’ “The Interview” Podcast.

“I was a really stressed out young woman,” she said. “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 she had to gain a little perspective, which she still draws on today: “You have no idea. Something could fall through the sky and that will be lights out for you. So when I find myself, like, the old instincts rising, I just tell myself, I’m like, ‘You are not gonna die stressed.’”

When asked about the source of her stress she said, “I didn’t know how to breathe yet. And that was really complicated.” She added that “literally everything” was stressful at the time, and being a young woman in Hollywood meant she was “very, very, very, in my head, about a lot of things.” The stress turned “somatic” and she even experienced physical symptoms.

“I was just stuck in this feeling. It’s that thing about, ‘I want to achieve things, I want to grow,’ and you think, mistakenly, that the way you do that is to be really hard on yourself. You drive yourself by self-criticism.”

OK, yes, I know what you’re talking about, Anne. So, what fixed it? Gratitude, duh!

“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,” she told herself, and when she did, “It felt like a light went on.”

Now, she says, “I work hard to just be present. Like I said, I’m more grateful. I’m more settled in myself. I’m less afraid of things not happening.”

Gratitude is nice and all, but it sounds to me like she just, you know, grew up? And got over it? I’m not going out and buying a gratitude journal after this, is what I’m saying.