Anne Hathaway's got lot of haters, but she also has some powerful friends. Both Lena Dunham and Anderson Cooper have gone to bat for the Oscar winner in the past few days, saying that she doesn't deserve the backlash against her.
"Ladies: Anne Hathaway is a feminist and she has amazing teeth. Let's save our bad attitudes for the ones who aren't advancing the cause," Girls star Dunham tweeted on Tuesday.
Cooper also felt the need to defend Hathaway. On Thursday's Anderson Live, the news anchor said that, although he doesn't know Hathaway personally, he finds all the vitriol to be "completely unfair."
"The amount of pressure she must feel knowing all these people hate her—give her a break; she seems like a lovely young person," said Cooper. "People form all these opinions on people based on nothing. ... I had no idea this whole hatred existed; I feel like I've just woken up and realized the entire universe is attacking her and I feel bad for her and I am defending her."
We admit, we feel a pang of guilt for jumping on the anti-Hathaway parade float. It's just that her whole approach to awards season—the endless interviews, the tween-girl gushing about her great life, the earnest declarations about her sacrifices as an artist—was exhausting. By the time she had that statue in hand, we just wanted her to stop talking for a few minutes.
Hopefully, now that she has the ultimate prize, Hathaway can finally relax and be herself again. And we're confident that she can turn this whole thing around. To get the ball rolling, here are our three best pieces of advice for Anne Hathaway to get past the hate.
1. Take yourself down a notch.
One of Anne Hathaway's strong suits is that she'll try anything once (even hosting the Oscars with a semi-catatonic James Franco). Now's the perfect time to embrace that quality! We'd suggest Hathaway call in a favor from SNL or Jimmy Fallon and participate in some major self-mockery. Maybe she can do an impression of herself doing a terrible Oscar speech! All that haterade will be less painful if Anne gets in on the joke.
2. Work for cheap.
She could easily spend the next few years making blockbusters and rom-coms, but that won't help her seem relatable. Instead, Anne should take a cue from admired actresses like Michelle Williams and Kate Winslet, and throw herself whole-heartedly into no-budget indie films. Also, how about a guest appearance on Girls? Working for love, rather than money, is the best way to stop seeming phony.
3. Close the door on your marriage.
Maybe Anne didn't want to seem ungrateful or make him feel left out, but this awards season, we've heard way too much about Anne's husband Adam Shulman. All that gushing about her marriage seems disingenuous for two reasons: 1) She's been married for less than a year, and 2) She might as well be saying, "Look, everybody! This guy's not a con man!" We're sure Adam is lovely. Just, please—stop talking about him.
Honestly, we don't think it will take that long for Anne to get her reputation back on track. She's got some very promising films coming up, including a dramatic Judy Garland biopic and a comedy with Pitch Perfect screenwriter Kay Cannon. If she can learn to laugh at herself, stop doling out marriage advice, and let her movies speak for themselves, then people will find someone else to hate!
A version of this story originally appeared on iVillage.