Anne Hathaway says she ‘wasn’t expecting to find another gear at 40’

American actress Anne Hathaway has said she “wasn’t expecting to find another gear at 40”.

The Hollywood star, 43, is best known for her Oscar-winning performance in Les Miserables (2012), and for starring in cult classic film The Devil Wears Prada (2006) alongside Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

During an interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Hathaway has opened up about her attitude towards ageing.

The US star said: “I think that very often, conversations about ageing presume that the first part of life is the happiest and the most fulfilling, and I don’t necessarily think that’s true.

“I wasn’t expecting to find another gear at 40.”

Hathaway added that as she has got older, and since having her two sons – Jonathan and Jack Shulman, she has struggled with maintaining a work-life balance.

The Interstellar actress said: “Before, there was this focus that was really uncompromising and uninterrupted. And I just can’t tell you anymore what life is like without kids, but kids interrupt you all the time.

“My friends and I talk about (balance) a lot, and we actually feel very defeated by the concept of it.

“If the weight shifts in one direction, you then have to bounce it up on the other side, and we find that it winds us up as opposed to making us steady.”

Hathaway also told the publication that she tries to maintain a positive mindset in life, and said: “You can’t have a good time at a party if the hostess is stressed or she’s letting her stress show.

“I just decided that it wasn’t fair for me to move through my life as a stressed person. I don’t want my kids to be around it, I don’t want my friends to be around it, I don’t want strangers to be around it, I don’t want people I work with to be around it.

“So I’ve done a lot of work to figure out how to metabolise differently, so that way I don’t feel overwhelmed by all that’s coming at me and that I’m participating in, but I actually feel really excited by it.”

The star rose to fame in her teenage years after starring in Disney hit film The Princess Diaries in 2001 opposite Dame Julie Andrews.

Hathaway told the publication she credits her work ethic for her success in her career, and said: “I think I just knew from a young age that, although I’m really lucky in so many ways and grew up with certain privileges, there wasn’t this big life that was just going to be handed to me.

“I’ve always just felt defined by my work ethic, because my skill set is what it is and I have to work with what I have, but how hard I can work is something that I can control.

“I never want to pull up short and feel like I could have worked harder. If I know that I’m working hard, I can live with who I am.”

The May issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from April 16.