Anne Hathaway on Hollywood Backlash: "Even Now I Can Feel the Shame"

Anne Hathaway covers November's Harper's Bazaar, which is aptly titled the Daring Issue. The Oscar-winning actress did her own bit of risk-taking for the photo shoot, going topless save for a giant beaded heart decal reading "I love you." In the accompanying interview, Anne opens up about everything from being more fearless in her career choices to how she handled the Hollywood backlash during the 2013 award season — she explains feeling "shocked and slapped and embarrassed," adding, "Even now I can feel the shame." Keep reading for more candid quotes from Anne about not feeling sorry for herself, making the first move on her now-husband, and why she idolizes her Interstellar costar Matthew McConaughey.

  • On being more fearless: "I am getting more daring now. For a long time I was afraid of the harsh things people would say about me, but I might as well be happy."
  • On the backlash that she faced during the 2013 award season: "Punched in the gut. Shocked and slapped and embarrassed. Even now I can feel the shame. I was in crisis. Now I'd be fine. I really would be. I'd let it roll off my back, but at the time I was still partly Fantine. I was still identifying with being a victim."
  • On not feeling self-pity: "People treated me a certain way, but I've grown from it. This whole thing has made me a way more compassionate and loving person. And I don't feel sorry for myself."

  • On being told that she's "not sexy": "Even though I've had great success, touch wood, it hasn't been easy. A lot of people have told me, 'You're not this and so can't play that,' and I can't tell you the amount of times I've been told I'm not sexy. I just go: 'I'm a lot of things. Just because I don't wear my sexiness overtly doesn't mean that I can't become that girl for a role. That's what I do; I become things. Use your imagination, buddy.' So in terms of not listening to what other people told me about who I was as an actress and then really pursuing it, I think I've been daring in that way."
  • On her Interstellar costar Matthew McConaughey: "Matthew McConaughey is the most daring man I know. He never judged himself along the way, and it's all come together for him so wholly and deeply. He is totally himself."

  • On meeting her now-husband, Adam Shulman: "I was in LA when I met him. I was told he had a girlfriend, and I backed off because I'm not that girl. Then when I found out six weeks later that he didn't have a girlfriend, I was like, 'We should throw a party. We should invite Adam.'"
  • On their relationship: "From the very first second we knew it was a very powerful and exciting connection we had, and it just gets better. There's no pushing him around, but he's so gentle and present."