Anne Hathaway reveals secret decade-long health struggle
Anne Hathaway has been a bit of staple on our screens in this century so far.
From her breakthrough in The Princess Diaries to The Devil Wears Prada and The Dark Knight Rises, she’s had some iconic roles.
It’s fair to say the Mother Mary actor has had long spells of all sorts of films rolling out, with such an impressive list of film credits.
But Hathaway recently revealed that for a whole decade, she was actually ‘legally blind’ in one decade.
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It seems the 43-year-old kept this eye health struggle a secret from the public, understandably, as fans are surprised that it wasn’t known while she has been in the spotlight for such a long time.
The Interstellar actor’s vision problems were believed to be the result of early onset cataract.
Hathaway previously appeared on the New York Times’ podcast as she quipped: “This is maybe too much information.”
She then went on to admit: “I was half blind for 10 years.”
Between the ages of 30 to 40, Hathaway explained: “I had an early onset cataract. And it impacted my vision so much that I was basically, legally blind out of my left eye.
“And I wound up getting surgery.”
The star said she hadn’t realised ‘how bad’ it had gotten until afterwards, when she could ‘finally see the full spectrum’ as she also noticed the impact the vision problems had been having on her general well-being,
“I’ve calmed down since then,” Hathaway added. “I didn’t realise it was actually taxing my nervous system. It did, maybe it wouldn’t for everybody, but it definitely did for me.”
The star was concerned this confession was a ‘TMI’ as they joked she’d just ‘broke news’ on the podcast with hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli.
Cataracts
The NHS explains this is where the lens in your eye ‘becomes cloudy, causing blurred vision and loss of sight’.
Typically, it affects older adults, but can impact others, with Hathaway describing her case as ‘early onset’.
Symptoms include blurred vision, difficulty seeing at night, difficulty reading and watching television, colours appearing faded and your eyes being uncomfortable in light and glare. It’s recommended to use stronger glasses and brighter light for reading to help.
Cataracts don’t typically need treatment straight away but will get worse over time.
Surgery will be needed if you want to improve your sight, this is done under a local anaesthetic. During this, the cloudy lens is replaced with an artificial one.
Jess Battison