The internet is roasting E! News for acting like Anne Hathaway, 39, is an old crone

Another day, another rampant bout of ageism when it comes to women in Hollywood—today’s victim in question is Anne Hathaway. Whoever is running the Twitter account for E! News is going to be busy today, as many people are calling them out for a recent tweet about the Princess Diaries actress.

Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto were photographed on the red carpet for their AppleTV+ docuseries, WeCrashed, looking absolutely fabulous. Though apparently, Hathaway broke a cardinal rule for women in Hollywood: she’s in her—gasp!—late thirties. She’s also a proud mom to Jonathan, 5, and Jack, 1.

How does she do it? And by “it,” I of course mean “not shrivel to dust” as implied by E! News and their tweet:

“Did Anne Hathaway make a deal with the devil? She is literally aging backward.”

I’m sorry, what? I get the “deal with the devil” pun is related to her iconic work on The Devil Wears Prada. That much is…fine. But “aging backward?” So basically a woman who is stunningly beautiful at 39 years old must have some sort of Benjamin Button thing going on? Thanks, I hate it.

The tweet was retweeted significantly more than most of the tweets on the account for E! News, with a vast majority of the replies calling out the ageism in the tweet for what it is.

Something else we as a society need to collectively sit with: Even women who are even older than 39 still deserve to look and feel beautiful. Because they are beautiful. Sure, 39 isn’t “old” at all. But women who are 49, 59, 69, 79 and beyond should also feel fully confident in their looks. Because remember, aging is a privilege. Age comes for all of us in the end, if we’re lucky enough. Maybe someday we’ll actually embrace that notion and do better by our older adult population in general.

Now, as for Anne Hathaway, hopefully she was able to enjoy her evening before turning back into the Crypt Keeper. Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that Jared Leto is 50 years old but E! News didn’t feel the need to congratulate him for showing up on the red carpet without his walker and dentures.

Ageism and sexism go hand-in-hand, after all. It’s like Goldie Hawn’s character says in The First Wives Club: “There are only three ages for women in Hollywood – Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy.” 

Sigh.

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