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Anne Hathaway struggled for nearly a decade with a hidden condition that left her unable to see clearly in her left eye.
When appearing on the podcast “Popcast” The “Devil Wears Prada 2” star revealed to the New York Times that early-onset cataracts left her “almost blind” in one eye during her thirties. “It affected my vision so much that I was practically blind in my left eye and eventually had to have surgery,” said the 43-year-old. “I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I could finally see the full color spectrum again.”
The visual impairment also had psychological consequences that Hathaway did not want to acknowledge for a long time. “I’ve calmed down since then,” the actress explained. “I didn’t realize it was actually taking a toll on my nervous system.”
Life-changing surgery for Anne Hathaway
In the podcast conversation, Hathaway described the corrected vision after the operation as a “miracle”. “I really value my vision because I literally have the conscious feeling every day that I wake up and can see the way I see,” she said. “I often think to myself that just two generations ago I would have had no chance of getting better.”
For people with cataracts, seeing through cloudy lenses is often like looking through an icy or foggy window. The visual impairment can make reading, driving at night or recognizing a friend’s facial expression very difficult.
Anne Hathaway also spoke about the life-changing operation because she is repeatedly accused of having undergone cosmetic surgery. However, the Oscar winner sharply rejected this. In the podcast conversation, she said matter-of-factly: “We live in a time where people express their beliefs very confidently, and sometimes what they think is right, and sometimes not.”
