Tuesday, 6 February 2007

Anne Hathaway: I battled depression

Actress says she suffered during her teens

Anne Hathaway says she suffered from anxiety and depression in her teens, but that she rejected medication and instead worked through her troubles.

"I said to Mom the other day, 'Do you remember that girl? She has now gone, gone to sleep. She has said her piece and she is gone,' " Hathaway, 24, tells Britain's Tatler magazine. "But then I thought, 'I so remember her, only she is no longer part of me.' "

She continues, "I am sorry she was hurting for so long. It's all so negatively narcissistic to be so consumed with self."

The actress is the latest celebrity to discuss depression recently, joining Mandy Moore and Zach Braff.

Next up, Hathaway will star as Jane Austen in the movie Becoming Jane. Why play the legendary author? Because of one of her idols, Emma Thompson. "I was having doubts," she says. "But then I met Emma, who asked me what I was doing. I couldn't tell her I was not going to play Jane Austen. So I just did it."

Hathaway, who's been dating real-estate developer Raffaello Follieri, 27, for three years, lives in New York City – because she can't live in Los Angeles. "I am too pale and I don't drive," she says.