Anne Hathaway has a refreshing take on beauty as she gets older: 'Aging is another word for living'

Anne Hathaway feels more comfortable about beauty as she gets older. For years, women—especially in the movie and beauty industries—were told aging was a terrifying process. Fortunately, that's changing now. Celebrities are opening up about feeling more comfortable in their skin than ever before. "I don't think about age," Hathaway admitted to TODAY in an interview published on September 18, 2023, when asked for her opinion on the "hype of aging."

"To me, aging is another word for living. So, if people want to pay a compliment, it's nice. But also whatever the hype is, I'm interested in what's beyond the concept of hype. I'm right at that point where I have a much better sense of how I like to do things," she continued. "I'm so much better at sharing. I feel like I'm kinder to myself and kinder to others."

"The Devil Wears Prada" actress also became bolder as she got older when it came to making fashion choices. "I thought that I could only have one style," the 40-year-old confessed to Vogue last month while discussing her new role as the new face for Shiseido’s Vital Perfection Line. "I felt really lost because I didn't know what that was until I realized I have so many styles."

When she realized that, she said she felt like "something clicked." She added, "The concept of dopamine dressing is so much fun! And also fashion itself right now, I feel like designers are having a lot of fun. I feel like people are enjoying it. Maybe it was always the case, and maybe I was the only person in the corner watching everybody else have fun. But just the ability to enjoy it feels like it’s more available to me now than it ever was before." 

The "Brokeback Mountain" star feels that aging is a personal journey and everyone goes through it differently. She views aging as "just another word for living." Speaking to PEOPLE she added that "what you do with it from there is personal and up to you. I feel great—I feel better than I did in my twenties because I'm taking much better care of myself.” She opened up about how she's learned something new in every decade of her life.

“In my 30s, I had to give up alcohol. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't lead the life that I wanted while drinking. And in my 40s I'm finding I have to support myself differently nutritionally. I want to go back and talk to my 25-year-old self who felt like she didn't have to do anything and just be like, ‘Oh honey, honey, there's a whole other world out there and it tastes like an avocado,’” Hathaway stated.

As a mom to two kids, she also got candid about her struggles when it came to pregnancy and postpartum. The actress shares sons Jonathan (seven years old) and Jack (three years old) with husband Adam Shulman (42 years old). “People don't talk about this and it really made me feel better when I found out about it. It takes three years for your body to recover from a pregnancy fully. I didn't snap back. I want to be very, very clear about that. With my second, it took every minute of those three years. Let your body be a body. There's nowhere to get to. It's just now. Be present and take care of yourself and don't set expectations," Hathaway said.