Anne Hathaway was asked to gain 20 pounds for her upcoming movie role in Netflix’s The Last Thing He Wanted , which is set to be released later this year, wrote The Daily Mail . In an interview with Allur e for the magazine’s September issue, the actress expressed how challenging it was to be asked to gain weight in a Hollywood industry still focused on pressuring actresses to lose weight.
“At 16 years old, it was ‘Congratulations, you have the part. I’m not saying you need to lose weight. I’m just saying don’t gain weight.’ Which of course means you need to lose weight.”
While the Ocean’s 8 actress recently announced that she is pregnant, she added that she had readily agreed to gain weight for the role as Elena McMahon, a journalist who quits her job to join a covert governmental agency, prior to the pregnancy.
Despite an environment that pushes women to lose weight and achieve an idealized version of what a woman “should” look like, the 36-year-old believes that expectations are changing in Hollywood.
“There is so much more body inclusivity — which is great — but the thin thing is definitely still the centralized ‘normal’ expectation.”
The actress continued on to add that women’s roles are becoming more varied and nuanced, which allows for more interesting characters and stories.
Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck will star in “The Last Thing He Wanted,” based on Joan Didion’s 1996 novel. The 2019 release is directed by Academy Award nominee Dee Rees, who co-wrote the film with Marco Villalobos. pic.twitter.com/MCSR8jsXAE
— Queue (@netflixqueue) July 10, 2018
The only problem that Hathaway foresees is that audiences won’t appreciate the shift, leading to things reverting back to the way they used to be.
Another change that the actress had to undergo to play the role of Elena was tapping into a more aggressive side of herself. As someone who is not a naturally angry person, Hathaway commented that the role was a challenge for her and had a big impact on the way she conceptualizes the emotion.
Despite keeping busy with the various projects she’s been working on, The Devil Wears Prada actress is pregnant with her second child. She took to social media site Instagram at the end of July to share the news with her followers, joking that the weight gain was not for a movie.
In the caption, she opens up about struggling with infertility to get pregnant with both her children while sending extra love to those also experiencing conception difficulties. Her 14.9 million followers were ecstatic about the pregnancy, filling the comments section of the post with thousands of messages congratulating the actress.
“You are such a beautiful MAMMA! Love you,” one adoring fan gushed.