Lifestyle

EYE TO EYE

Oscar Winner Reveals Secret Decade-Long Health Struggle

The condition rarely impacts people as young as she was.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedMay 26, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT

UpdatedMay 26, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT

Updated May 26, 2026, 1:00 PM EDTPublished May 26, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT

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Anne Hathaway revealed a medical condition that significantly impacted her eyesight throughout her thirties.

The Devil Wears Prada star, 43, discussed her history with eye problems on the Popcast, the New York Times‘ pop culture podcast.

“This is maybe too much information. I was half blind for 10 years,” Hathaway said.

Hathaway detailed that she had an early-onset cataract, a condition that is typically linked to aging. Cataracts typically start around age 40, though many patients do not notice vision changes until their sixties.

While the symptoms start slowly, the condition can blur vision to the point that it becomes difficult to read other people’s facial expressions, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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“It impacted my vision so much that I was basically legally blind out of my left eye,” Hathaway said.

The Oscar-winning actress recalled experiencing vision clouding from 30 to 40, during which time she filmed hit movies such as the 2015 comedy-drama The Intern and the 2018 heist comedy Ocean’s 8.

Hathaway ended up getting surgery that restored her vision.

“I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I could finally see like the full spectrum,” she said, adding that gaining clear vision helped her calm down. “I didn’t realize it was actually taxing my nervous system.”

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Hathaway said the experience gave her even more appreciation for her sight.

“I literally feel like every day I wake up, and I get to see the way that I do, it’s a miracle,” Hathaway said. “I actually am like, ‘Oh, two generations back that wouldn’t have been an option for someone like me.’”

Hathaway revealed her eye condition when she was asked which sense she could live without.

She said she would be “so sad” if she lost her sight and would choose to give up her sense of taste.

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“It’s just because I’m a mom. Like the smell of my children, you know, like when my oldest was born, I have this very distinct core memory of like that magic baby smell, and I really, truly, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this is heaven,’” she said.

Hathaway has two children with her husband, producer and jewelry designer Adam Shulman, whom she married in 2012.

The couple welcomed their eldest son, Jonathan, in 2016, and their second, Jack, in 2019.

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Hathaway joked that her willingness to give up taste stemmed from her culinary abilities.

“I’m not a great cook. So maybe if I was more talented in the kitchen, I would feel differently about that,” she said, laughing.

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Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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