Actress Anne Hathaway may be a Hollywood princess, but she holds a greater title in her personal life, which she earned only after a tough struggle with infertility.
Since becoming a mom, Anne Hathaway has relished every bit of her role, transforming herself into a pillar of support and a representation of motherhood to every other woman.
But it has not always been a straight line for the “Oceans’ 8” star. Notably, the actress, who married husband Adam Shulman in 2012 took years to conceive, attracting the brow-raising question from everyone around her, especially the media.
She ended up welcoming two sons, completing her perfect family of four. While her fertility struggles could have passed unnoticed afterward, the usually private star chose not to remain mum about her fertility struggles.
Knowing speaking up would help crush the stigma surrounding infertility and help other struggling women, she shared details about her daunting journey. She has since remained a voice for millions out there dealing with the same issues.
How exactly did this Hollywood royalty beat this dreaded condition that plagues thousands of women worldwide, bringing along disheartening stigma and when did she have a baby?
Who Is Anne Hathaway Married To?
Finding love proved not-so-difficult for Anne Hathaway, who knew the moment she saw actor and jewelry designer Adam Shulman that they were meant to be. She resolved at that moment that she was going to marry him.
The duo first met in 2008 through mutual friends and hit it off immediately. They became engaged three years later and walked down the aisle on September 29, 2012, in a private wedding on the mountains of Big Sur, California.
Hathaway’s Motherhood Journey
Anne Hathaway and her husband kept their married life away from public eyes in a bid to separate her private life from her movies and fame. Yet, like every newlywed, fans began counting down to their big pregnancy reveal, which didn’t seem forthcoming for years.
Then in 2016, the icon shook the world by sharing a bikini photo of herself rocking a baby bump on Instagram, officially announcing her pregnancy.
Via caption, the very private star revealed she decided to share her pregnancy because she noticed someone photographing her at the beach. Hence, she decided if such a photo leaked, she’d rather be the source to enable her control the narrative.
She eventually welcomed her son Jonathan Roosebanks Shulman. It took another three years for the actress to become a mom again, which triggered deep revelations about her daunting journey to motherhood.
When Did Anne Hathaway Have A Baby?
Anne Hathaway became a first-time mom with the arrival of Jonathan on March 24, 2016. The star has revealed her son’s middle name, Roosebanks was a blend of Roseline and Banks, names which hold special significance to both parents.
In November 2019, the award winner became a mom again, welcoming another son, Jack Shulman. This time, she kept her pregnancy journey under wraps, keeping his gender a secret for almost a year.
In fact, the world only discovered his gender when she was overheard saying “this is him,” while showing off her newborn’s picture to a guest at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards.
His name went public for the first time when Kelly Ripa let it slip during Hathaway’s October 2020 appearance on “Live With Kelly And Ryan,” nearly a year later. His exact birth date remains a mystery.
Her Isolating Fertility struggle
While she kept his birth a secret, Anne Hathaway let fans in on her pregnancy months prior. The mom of two utilized the big reveal as an avenue to share her daunting infertility struggle with the world.
Announcing her second pregnancy on Instagram, “The Princess Diaries” star wrote:
“It’s not for a movie. All kidding aside, for everyone going through infertility and conception hell, know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies. Sending you extra love.”
She accompanied the July 2019 post with a picture of herself sporting a baby bump. The world immediately took the hint, figuring an ongoing fertility struggle contributed to her delayed road to motherhood.
The actress admitted the hardest part about her daunting journey was the sometimes negative remarks she received from people who felt she was taking too long to conceive.
In fact, her most dreaded question at the time was, “what’s taking you so long?” The recurrent questions left her upset, fanning the ravaging flames of her secret battle.
The Daunting Road To Motherhood
In later interviews, the mom of two delved deeper into her fertility journey, revealing how harrowing it felt to witness others around her conceive. She divulged:
“I felt I was struggling myself. Each time I was trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t going my way, someone else would manage to conceive. I knew intellectually that it didn’t happen just to torment me… but it felt a little bit like it did.”
Hathaway also revealed that having no one around or having open conversations on social media about infertility struggles made her more embarrassed, worsening her plight.
She attributed most of the challenges faced by women struggling with infertility to Instagram and other social media platforms, which made life look breezy while hiding the full story.
To her, leaving out the sad details in order to fit the social media standard only made struggling women feel isolated, lonely, and responsible for their predicament.
Standing Up For Struggling Women
When she finally took in a second time, the star figured it was the right time to change the narrative, and reach out to that “one follower” who needed to know she wasn’t alone in that hell. She explained:
“She’s going to see my announcement and, while I understand she will be happy for me, I also know that something about it will make her feel worse, I just wanted to say, ‘Look, it wasn’t as easy for me as it looks.’”
Having other women respond to her post with comments acknowledging they went through the same struggle admittedly broke the icon’s heart, but it gave her the fulfillment she craved.
Hathaway has since dedicated her time to being the voice of women dealing with fertility issues, reassuring them they are not alone and giving them hope of better days ahead.