Anne Hathaway Opens Up About Career Challenges at 35: 'A Warning Many Women Encounter'

Anne Hathaway is 41 years old, which means she has long defied the warning she often heard as a teen actor that her career would not flourish past a certain age as a woman in Hollywood.

“When I started out as a child, I was warned that my career would fall off a cliff at the age of 35, which is something I know a lot of women face,” Hathaway recently told Net-a-Porter’s digital title Porter.”The thing that has evolved during [that time] is that more women are having careers deeper into their lives, which I think is fantastic. Obviously, it doesn’t mean we should have a ticker tape parade — someone said this to me the other day: ‘There’s so much to be proud of and there’s so much to fix.’”

Hathaway’s acting career kicked off in 2001 with the breakout success of Disney’s “The Princess Diaries,” which she filmed as a teenager. Roles in teen fantasy classics like “Ella Enchanted” and Oscar-nominated dramas such as “Brokeback Mountain” followed.

“It is such a sweet feeling to know that you’re kind of woven into someone’s life,” Hathaway told the magazine about being an actor. “I can’t describe the honor of knowing that I’m involved in the moments where people need comfort. It makes me really excited that my journey as a performer has connected with people. I love [when] projects have a life beyond their initial release.”

Hathaway most recently earned strong reviews for her role in “She Came to Me,” and she’s got the indie psychodrama “Eileen” opening next month. She’s clearly continued to thrive past age 35. “Eileen” world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where Hathaway made headlines for discussing her career as a teen actor.

“I just remembered one of the very first questions I ever got asked when I started acting and had to do press was: Are you a good girl or a bad girl?” Hathaway said at the film fest. “I was 16.”