Anne Hathaway opens up about ‘Hathahate’ 10 years on

‘When your self-inflicted pain is suddenly somehow amplified back at you at, say, the full volume of the internet… It’s a thing’

Anne Hathaway has reflected on the influx of online hatred she experienced in the wake of her 2013 Oscar win.

The Les Misérables star had faced widespread online vitriol, with many criticising her for a percieved “annoying” earnestness.

The backlash against Hathaway has since come to be referred to by the portmanteau “Hathahate”, and has increasingly been seen as a product of misogyny.

Speaking at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event on Tuesday (18 October), Hathaway opened up about her experiences at length, discussing her familiarity with “the language of hatred”.

“Ten years ago, I was given an opportunity to look at the language of hatred from a new perspective,” she said on stage at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

“When your self-inflicted pain is suddenly somehow amplified back at you at, say, the full volume of the internet… It’s a thing.”

Later in the speech, she continued: “When what happened, happened, I realised I had no desire to have anything to do with this line of energy. On any level. I would no longer create art from this place. I would no longer hold space for it, live in fear of it, nor speak its language for any reason. To anyone. Including myself.”

“Hate seems to me to be the opposite of life; in soil that harsh, nothing can grow properly, if at all.”

Back in 2017, Hathaway touched on her experience being the target of online hatred, telling Jezebel: “I am… not eager, but I am ready for the conversation to move to a place beyond it.”