Anne Hathaway has revealed for the first time that she spent a decade effectively half-blind, a health battle she largely kept private until a recent podcast appearance brought it into the open.
Talking further The New York Times’ Popcast on April 22, the actress, 43, told hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli that she developed an early-onset cataract in her left eye between the ages of 30 and 40, leaving her vision so severely impaired that she was legally blind in that eye for the duration.
“This might be too much information,” she said before going into it. “I was half-blind for 10 years.”
Cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens that typically affects older people, are not unheard of in younger patients, although early-onset cases are considerably rarer.
For Hathaway, the condition meant her left eye was functioning at the level that meets the legal definition of blindness, and she only fully understood how serious it had become when she had surgery to correct it.
“I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I could finally see the full spectrum,” she said.
The experience had also taken a quiet but significant toll on her well-being.
“I didn’t realize it was actually taxing my nervous system,” she added. “I’ve calmed down since then.”
The revelation has left her with a lasting sense of gratitude for her sight.
“I appreciate vision because I literally feel like every day I wake up and get to see the way I do, it’s a miracle,” she said.
“I’m actually like, ‘Oh, two generations back, that wouldn’t have been a possibility for someone like me.’ So I actually feel very connected to that kind of miracle.”
