The cruel reason Anne Hathaway was “warned” her career would be over in 2017
Despite being among the most iconic names in Hollywood, Anne Hathaway is still subjected to the enduring levels of institutionalised misogyny that still permeate the entire industry. So much so that, nearly a decade ago, she was told her days were numbered.
Since the very dawn of Hollywood, during the early part of the 20th century, female performers have rarely, if ever, been treated with the same degree of reverence as their male counterparts. Starring roles then, as now, most often went to male actors, while many prominent female actors had to resign themselves to playing their shallow love interests. Although the situation isn’t quite so binary in the 21st-century, the Hollywood bubble still isn’t overly egalitarian.
Women in the industry have to deal with a whole heap of unjust issues disproportionately affecting their gender. If it isn’t the wage gap, it is abusers, exploiters and disgusting men like Harvey Weinstein acting as a barrier to the industry. Even after all of that, though, one of the most impenetrable barriers for women in the film industry is their age.
While countless male actors have continued to star in a plethora of different roles well into their old age, the number of roles open to women of an advanced age is far narrower. Even a name as ubiquitous as Meryl Streep, for instance, claimed she was offered three different roles as a witch immediately after turning 40.
Meanwhile, one of the prevailing reasons for actor and British comedy legend Kathy Burke retired from acting was her being typecast in “mumsy” roles after reaching a certain age.
As it turns out, Anne Hathaway is no different. “When I started out [in this industry] 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,” the actor told Net-A-Porter in 2023. “The thing that has evolved during [that time] is that more women are having careers deeper into their lives, which I think is fantastic.”
While it is true that women reaching 35 is no longer the watershed moment it perhaps was when Hathaway was in the early stages of her career, it is still true that women are far more limited in the opportunities they are given past a certain age milestone – it is difficult, for instance, to imagine an all-female cast of The Expendables.
As Hathaway noted, “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.’” The actor herself has continued to go from strength to strength in recent years, now in her early 40s. In fact, her mainstream career has witnessed something of a resurgence recently, with Hathaway appearing in or working on five different films in 2026 alone.
With that still-expanding filmography, Hathaway continues to take on a deluge of different roles, in projects covered a multitude of different genres. As such, it is fair to say that she has proven the naysayers of her early career dead wrong, reflecting both her palpable skill as a performer and the steadily shifting sands of the film industry with regard to female representation.
