Anne Hathaway Details the "Gross" Audition Request She Once Endured

Anne Hathaway with bangs and closed-mouth smile — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Chemistry reads are one thing. But putting a woman through makeout after makeout—and joking about it—is another. In her early Hollywood days, Anne Hathaway underwent the latter, and she's speaking out about how "gross" the situation was.

"Back in the 2000s—and this did happen to me—it was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry. Which is actually the worst way to do it," The Idea of You star said to V Magazine. "I was told, 'We have 10 guys coming today and you're cast. Aren't you excited to make out with all of them?' And I thought, 'Is there something wrong with me?' because I wasn't excited. I thought it sounded gross."

Still, the fear of being labeled "difficult" as a young woman in Hollywood led Hathaway to feign excitement about the process. "It wasn't a power play, no one was trying to be awful or hurt me," she said to V. "It was just a very different time, and now we know better."

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While Hathaway may have been intimidated at that early audition, she's since become an advocate for equal treatment in Hollywood. Earlier this year, the Princess Diaries star told Marie Claire UK that "women are not economically empowered the same, and that automatically creates a power imbalance." She's also used her position as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to advocate for policies like paid parental leave.

With a much-anticipated film on the way and the Hathahate firmly behind her, Hathaway is doing what she does best: speaking out so others don't have to go through the same things she has.

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Meghan is a freelance news writer at Marie Claire. Her work has also appeared in Bustle, Refinery29, Popsugar, and other outlets. When she isn't writing, Meghan runs a community for plus-size people in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.