Anne Hathaway gets candid about motherhood vs. her career: ‘There’s no contest’

As fans gear up to watch what might be one of Anne Hathaway’s spiciest roles yet, the actress is getting candid about how motherhood helps shape her decades-long career. In the upcoming romantic drama The Idea of You, Hathaway plays a single mom who ends up falling in love with a young pop star. And it turns out, her own experiences as a mom impacted her understanding of her character’s predicament in the film.

At the movie’s New York City premiere on April 29, the 41-year-old told PEOPLE how she related her role as Solène back to her sons Jonathan, 8, and Jack, 4, whom she shares with husband Adam Shulman.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to be a mother to play a mother. I think that should be open to lots of different actors,” she told the outlet. “But for me, in terms of understanding the depth of love that you can feel for this person and what you would be willing to do, I felt like it allowed the love for Hayes to be even bigger for Solène because she loves her daughter more than anything.”

“I mean, we love our children beyond words and for her to choose her daughter over him, I don’t know, it just made their love that much more important,” she added.

The film, which is slated for release on Amazon Prime Video on May 2, is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by author Robinne Lee. It’s widely believed to be fan fiction loosely based on Harry Styles during his tenure in One Direction, and it’s sure to be a steamy watch. Of course, we’re always stoked to see the Princess Diaries alum in anything, but it seems that for Hathaway, her family will always be her top priority.

She also chatted with Entertainment Tonight at the film’s NYC premiere, opening up about the importance of keeping family first. “When I started out, when I first became a mom, people were like, ‘Oh, how are you going to balance it?’ and I’m just like, ‘Balance? What are you talking about?'” she said. “One, as much as I love my career, as much as I love what I do, and you know I’m a beast about it, there’s no contest.”

Props to her for keeping it real about the elusive concept of “balance,” because for so many parents, it feels about as realistic as having a romance with a world-famous pop star after meeting at Coachella, amirite?