Anne Hathaway is expecting her second baby, and she revealed that her road to pregnancy wasn’t easy.
The actress, 36, opened up about her fertility struggles during an event for her new Amazon series, “Modern Love.”
“I think that we have a very one-size-fits-all approach to getting pregnant,” Hathaway told The Associated Press at the event. “You get pregnant and for the majority of cases, this is a really happy time. But a lot of people who are trying to get pregnant: That’s not really the story. Or that’s one part of the story. And the steps that lead up to that part of the story are really painful and very isolating and full of self-doubt. And I went through that.”
The actress alluded to this when she first posted about her pregnancy on Instagram.
“For everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies,” she wrote in the caption. “Sending you extra love.”
Hathaway said she is speaking out about her journey because she knows how isolating it can be to struggle with fertility while seeing others share their pregnancy news.
“I was just aware of the fact that when it came time to post that I was pregnant, somebody was going to feel even more isolated because of it,” Hathaway said. “And I just wanted them to know they have a sister in me.”
Hathaway’s message has resonated with other women dealing with similar issues. Many people on Instagram thanked the actress for opening up about her struggles.
“I've just gone through my third failed IVF cycle and it's just such an emotional and physical rollercoaster of an experience,” one woman commented on her Instagram post about her pregnancy. “But seeing well-known people like yourself talk about your struggles openly helps to make those battling infertility less alone.”
“Conceived my second after two years. Thank you for being public about your struggles,” another fan wrote.
This will be the second child for Hathaway and her husband, Adam Shulman, who welcomed their son, Jonathan, in 2016.