Anne Hathaway (Annie Leibovitz/Vogue)It was for the love of her craft that Anne Hathaway whittled 25 pounds from her already thin frame earlier this year. Cast as Fantine in the upcoming big-screen adaption of "Les Misérables," the actress wanted to bring authenticity to her role as a dying prostitute, and it seems she was successful as she appears very gaunt in the trailer. In a new interview with Vogue, Hathaway talks about being on a "near-starvation diet" to slim down for the flick, and how her dramatic weight loss impacted her long after the cameras stopped rolling.
Anne Hathaway in Vogue Over the Years
Going into "Les Mis," Hathaway was already in tip-top shape. She was coming off of her role in "The Dark Knight Rises," for which she spent 10 months doing hardcore weight training and martial arts, and even adopted a vegan diet. But Hathaway took things further for Fantine, revealing that a cleanse led to her shedding 10 pounds prior to filming, and then over a two week period while the movie was filming, she dropped an additional 15 pounds by eating only two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste a day. "I had to be obsessive about it — the idea was to look near death," Hathaway tells the magazine. "Looking back on the whole experience — and I don't judge it in any way — it was definitely a little nuts. It was definitely a break with reality, but I think that's who Fantine is anyway."
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(Annie Leibovitz/Vogue)Hathaway, who turns 30 today, says she exerted herself so much in the role, which is already generating Oscar buzz for the actress, that she had difficulties transitioning back into her everyday life once filming wrapped, and had to lean heavily on her beau, actor-turned-jewelry designer Adam Shulman, whom she married on September 29. "I was in such a state of deprivation — physical and emotional," she confesses. "When I got home, I couldn't react to the chaos of the world without being overwhelmed. It took me weeks till I felt like myself again. The first time I really threw everything into a part, which was when I did 'Rachel Getting Married,' there was no one waiting for me when I got back. This time, Adam was there. He gets what I do and who I am and supports me in it, and that's pretty awesome."
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Calling Shulman her "true love — the full-on romantic, till-death-do-us-part real deal," Hathaway says that their Big Sur, California, wedding was "a blast" and their friends "stayed and partied and danced till really late." As for that Valentino gown, which was custom made by the retired designer, she said a lot of back and forth went into its creation. "I begged him during the first fitting to make the train detachable," Hathaway shares. "He looked at me and said, 'But it is a dress, not a costume.' The memory of creating it with him is something that I will treasure forever. He somehow read my mind and designed the dress that I'd always wanted."
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(Annie Leibovitz/Vogue)Something else she always wanted — and just didn't know it! — is her new no fuss haircut. Hathaway, who received positive reviews for hosting "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend, chopped her long dark locks for "Les Mis," but she's keeping the style for as long as she can. "I love the short-haired lifestyle," she notes. The only downside? Maintenance. She has to hit the salon every three weeks for a cut. "But I'm turning 30, and — I hope this isn't obnoxious to say — I feel prettier, and much more myself. I guess I just feel much more satisfied with less now."
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While she may be happy with less when it comes to her appearance, she's looking forward to building a family with Shulman. "I want to be a mother, and I anticipate loving my children quite fiercely," she says. "I think about it all the time, though it's a silly thing to think about because the kind of mother I'll be depends on the kind of children I have. I can't wait to meet them."
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For more of Hathaway's interview, pick up the December issue of Vogue, on newsstands now.
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