Anne Hathaway is setting the record straight after recent speculation surrounding her appearance — and according to the actress, the secret behind her ultra-lifted red carpet look is far simpler than some fans assumed.
The “Devil Wears Prada” star, 43, recently addressed online rumors suggesting she may have undergone a facelift after social media users began buzzing about her refreshed appearance earlier this year.
Instead, Hathaway says the answer was hiding in her hairstyle all along.
The Viral Clip
Back in March, Hathaway posted an Instagram video revealing a clever styling trick used by her hairstylist, Orlando Pita, to create a subtle lifting effect around the face.
In the clip, she demonstrated how two hidden braids placed near her temples helped give her eyes and face a slightly lifted appearance while styling her hair for events.
“And you look a little bit more awake,” Hathaway joked in the video while showing off the behind-the-scenes beauty technique.
Despite the lighthearted reveal, the post unexpectedly fueled even more online chatter, with some people continuing to speculate that the Oscar winner had undergone cosmetic surgery.
Hathaway Gets Honest
Now, in a new interview with ELLE, Hathaway admitted she found the conversation surrounding her face “distracting.”
“I wouldn’t say pointed,” Hathaway said of the speculation. “But we’re at a time when people feel very confident in assuming what they think is fact, and sometimes what they think is accurate and sometimes it’s not.”
The actress admitted she still occasionally questions whether sharing the beauty tip publicly was the right move.
“And I’ll probably always wonder, ‘Should I have posted that or not? Should I have just kept going and done the thing that makes me happy and makes me feel more confident on the red carpet?’” she said. “But I felt like the conversation was becoming distracting.”
Hathaway also stressed that cosmetic procedures are deeply personal choices and pushed back on assumptions being made about her appearance.
“By the way, these are huge medical decisions that people are presuming,” she explained. “I wanted to show that like, ‘No, I didn’t make a huge medical decision. It’s just two braids.’”
Still, the actress made it clear she is not ruling anything out in the future.
“And by the way, the other thing about all this is, I might still get a facelift someday,” Hathaway added candidly.
The conversation comes as Hathaway has become increasingly open about aging and self-acceptance.
Hathaway Had Previously Commented on Aging
In a previous interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the actress reflected on how turning 40 changed her perspective and helped her appreciate herself in a new way.
“I think that very often, conversations about aging presume that the first part of life is the happiest and the most fulfilling, and I don’t necessarily think that’s true,” Hathaway shared. “I wasn’t expecting to find another gear at 40.”
She also recalled a moment while on vacation that shifted how she viewed her body.
After accidentally packing what she called an “aspirational swimsuit” on a day she wasn’t feeling especially confident, Hathaway said she decided to stop focusing on unrealistic expectations.
“When I actually looked at what it actually is, I was okay with it,” she said of embracing her body at 43. “Looking at a 43-year-old body, I was like, ‘Nice.’”
