Anne Hathaway has proven in recent years that she is more than an Oscar-winning actress—she is a deep thinker who wants to use her celebrity platform for good, whether it means elegantly putting interviewers in their place for asking sexist questions, speaking at the United Nations on International Women’s Day, or opting for a though-provoking new film that is part feminist allegory. But rather than simply speaking publicly about Hollywood’s female problem, Hathaway did something even bolder in a recent interview—she reflected on her own problematic behavior, volunteering one experience with a female filmmaker that haunts her to this day.
The subject came up in an interview on Tuesday, when Peter Travers asked Hathaway a straightforward question—about the movie set on which she learned the most. While the actress could have given any variety of softball answers—about studying co-star Meryl Streep’s acting mastery on the set of The Devil Wears Prada, or battling the live-music elements in the large-scale adaptation of Les Misérables—Hathaway showed her vulnerability by speaking about her time on the set of 2011’s One Day, the romance with Jim Sturgess directed by the female Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig.
“I really regret not trusting her more easily,” Hathaway told Travers on ABC News’s Popcorn With Peter Travers. “And I am to this day scared that the reason I didn’t trust her the way I trust some of the other directors I work with is because she’s a woman.”
“I’m so scared that I treated her with internalized misogyny,” Hathaway continued. “I’m scared that I didn’t give her everything that she needed or . . . I was resisting her on some level. It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about in terms of when I get scripts to be directed by women.”
The admission wasn’t an easy one—Hathaway paused at one point to confess she was blushing.
“I’m getting red talking about this,” the actress said. “It feels like a confession, but I think it’s something we should talk about.”
Hathaway also revealed that her bias has extended beyond that one experience—so much so that she notices she responds to films with female directors differently than films with male directors.
“When I get a script, when I see a first film directed by a woman, I have in the past focused on what was wrong with it,” Hathaway continued. “And when I see a film . . . directed by a man, I focus on what’s right with it . . . I can only acknowledge that I’ve done that and I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“I had actively tried to work with female directors,” Hathaway said. “And I still had this mindset buried in there somewhere.”
Hathaway said that she never apologized personally to Scherfig, but would reach out to her after the interview.
Reflecting on the difference between men and women’s careers, Hathaway added, “That journey is way harder than it should be. It’s not equal . . . And I wonder if it’s about the thought process like the one I just talked about.”
A representative for Scherfig told ABC News that the director responded to the interview by asking the rep “to express her love and admiration for Anne and her work.”
Hathaway is certainly not the only person who has felt this way in Hollywood—though she may be one of the few to admit to it. A recent study determined that there are almost 24 male directors for every female director in the industry. Although it clearly has not come up with a solution to combat its rampant sexism, some actresses like Natalie Portman have taken a step in the right direction—reportedly insisting that her upcoming Ruth Bader Ginsberg biopic be directed by a woman.
