Anne Hathaway Hates Being Called “Anne” Because It Reminds Her Of Getting In Trouble With Her Mom

You might want to just go ahead and start calling her "Annie" moving forward. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, actress Anne Hathaway admitted she hates being called "Anne." Nothing against the perfectly fine name or anything, it's just that it reminds her of getting in trouble from her mom as a kid. I think we can all relate to that one.

At the outset of her interview with Fallon, the talk show host asked her if he should call her "Anne" or "Annie" since her good friends apparently all call her Annie. She responded by saying, "Call me 'Annie.' Everybody, everybody, call me 'Annie' please." She went on to explain that she has some regrets about her name that stem all the way back to when she was just 14 years old, filming a commercial and getting her SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card.

"They asked me 'what do you want your name to be?' And it should be my name, my name is Anne Hathaway.' It never occurred to me that, for the rest of my life, everyone would call me Anne."

Why is that a problem? According to Hathaway, "The only person who ever calls me 'Anne' is my mother and she only does it when she's really mad at me."

Because she associates the name "Anne" with someone being really mad at her, Hathaway told Fallon, "Every time I step out in public and someone calls me 'Anne' I think they're going to yell at me." The Witches actress then gave her official permission for everyone, whether they happened to know her or not, to please just go ahead and call her "Annie" from this point forward. Or really "anything but Anne" apparently.

Hathaway is herself a mother of two sons, 4-year-old Jonathan and 1-year-old Jack with husband Adam Shulman, and is finding her own unique way to parent just as her mom did with her. She told Stellar magazine in November that she has been finding her own way of doing things as a mom, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. "There’s obviously a learning curve – you just have to be kind to yourself with that because you do feel like you’re doing everything wrong, especially in the early days," she told the magazine. "But it’s more than just a challenge."

As her sons get older, she might even find a way to say their name that conveys the same kind of weight as her mom managed with her. So that when they are grown they can say, "please, call me anything but Jonathan/Jack. That's the name my mom used when I was in trouble." And the circle of life will continue.