'I barely ate anything': Anne Hathaway admits to starving herself in her early career and 'smoking her nerves away' to get 'movie star' body

Anne Hathaway has admitted she used to smoke away her anxieties when she felt insecure about her fame.

In a new interview the actress reveals that she didn’t look after herself in her early career and recalls a time when she would starve herself to achieve the typical ‘movie star body’.

Talking to People for the star’s cover story this week, Anne said: ‘…I remember 10 years ago being so scared going into the whole awards season and doing what I thought I was supposed to do, so I barely ate anything at Christmas…

Anxiety: Anne Hathaway (pictured last week) has admitted she would ‘barely eat anything’ and smoke her nerves away to prepare for awards shows 10 years ago

‘I thought movie stars had to have a certain body. I was just smoking, just smoking my nerves away and wasn’t nourishing myself.’

While her career was reaching meteoric heights, Anne said she suffered from ‘feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and nervousness and anxiety.’

‘I did everything so wrong for so long.’ she said.

While Anne, who rocketed to fame in 2001 upon the release of The Princess Diaries, said she’s ‘not big on looking back’ she clearly remembers the ways being in the spotlight made her self-conscious.

But the Brokeback Mountain actress says over time she’s learned how to take care of herself.

‘I thought movie stars had to have a certain body. I was just smoking, just smoking my nerves away and wasn’t nourishing myself.’ Anne (seen in 2009) recalled of her red carpet nerves 10 years ago

‘I did everything so wrong for so long.’ Anne, 36, told People of starving herself to fit the Hollywood stereotype

Healthier place: Anne said of her healthier perspective, ‘I don’t look that different, but I just feel like the inside has transformed so much.’

‘I just figured out how to say thank you to life by taking care of myself,’ she says. ‘By not apologizing for taking up space, which is not something I knew how to do 10 years ago.’

‘It’s been a journey. I don’t look that different, but I just feel like the inside has transformed so much.’

And Anne says maturity has taught her several ways to ignore her detractors.

‘Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. What I appreciate is when the negativity has some intelligence behind it. What I don’t like is lazy negativity. If you’re going to take someone down, have a point of view! Be witty, maybe pun a little!’

Her big break: Anne rocketed to fame in 2001 upon the release of The Princess Diaries. Seen above at the 2001 Teen Choice Awards

Coping mechanisms: In People interview Anne said her anxiety even caused her to change her diet and encourage other bad habits

Hathaway has been busy promoting her new thriller Serenity around town with co-star Matthew McConaughey, seen above together on Watch What Happens Live last week

Hathaway has been busy promoting her new thriller Serenity around town with co-star Matthew McConaughey.

In Serenity McConaughey plays a fisherman named Baker, whose ex-wife Karen, played by Hathaway, comes back to town begging her ex to save her from her abusive now-husband and instead invites him into a dark world of crime he thought he had already left in the past.

Serenity comes out in theaters January 25 2019.