Anne Hathaway reveals she never intended to go by the name ‘Anne’

Confusion dates back to when Hathaway, aged 14, joined the Screen Actors Guild labour union

Anne Hathaway on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (YouTube/The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

Anne Hathaway has revealed she never intended to go as “Anne”, and ended up being known by her full first name by accident.

The actor discussed the confusion on Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

“I’ve known you for a pretty long time now. I’ve heard people call you Annie, like your good friends,” Fallon told her. “Do I call you Anne or Annie?”

“Call me Annie,” Hathaway said. “Everybody, call me Annie, please.”

She then asked Fallon: “Can we talk about my name for a second?”, to which the host enthusiastically agreed.

Hathaway explained that she was 14 years old when she booked a commercial and joined the Screen Actors Guild labour union, also known as SAG.

When filling out information for her membership card, she was asked what name should appear on it and gave her legal name, Anne Hathaway. 

“That seemed like the right choice, but it never occurred to me that for the rest of my life, people would call me Anne,” the actor added.

“The only person who ever calls me ‘Anne’ is my mother, and she only does it when she’s really mad at me, like, really mad. Every time I step out in public and someone calls my name, I think they’re going to yell at me.”

In conclusion, she urged the host and other people to “call me anything but Anne”.

Hathaway stars with Chiwetel Ejiofor in the romantic comedy heist film Locked Down, out on HBO Max on 14 January.