Anne Hathaway Says Work-Life Balance Feels Impossible, Talks Motherhood, Aging & 'Devil Wears Prada' Return

Anne Hathaway is opening up about work-life balance.

The 43-year-old The Devil Wears Prada actress covers Harper’s BAZAAR‘s April 2026 The Now Issue, hitting newsstands on April 7.

In the conversation, Anne spoke about her return to the world of The Devil Wears Prada (including taking a tumble on set), balancing her work life as a mother, training for her upcoming film role playing a pop star in Mother Mary, aging, and much more.

Keep reading to find out more…

On moving away from the concept of “work-life balance”:

“Before, there was this focus that was really uncompromising and uninterrupted. And I just can’t tell you anymore what life is like without kids, but kids interrupt you all the time…my friends and I talk about it a lot, and we actually feel very defeated by the concept of balance. If the weight shifts in one direction, you then have to bounce it up on the other side, and we find that it winds us up as opposed to making us steady..we’re like, ‘We seek to harmonize our life.’”

On her very public fall while filming The Devil Wears Prada 2:

“I was aware that I was falling, I was aware that I was being photographed, and I was also aware that, like, so many people on the crew, their hearts had just jumped up into their throat, so I needed to get up quickly to make sure they knew I was okay.”

On her uncompromising work ethic:

“I think I just knew from a young age that although I’m really lucky in so many ways and grew up with certain privileges, there wasn’t, like, this big life that was just going to be handed to me. I’ve always just felt defined by my work ethic, because my skill set is what it is and I have to work with what I have, but how hard I can work is something that I can control. And so I never want to pull up short and feel like I could have worked harder. If I know that I’m working hard, I can live with who I am.”

On training for her role in Mother Mary despite not being a natural dancer:

“I wasn’t concerned that I couldn’t keep up with Beyoncé, because she is Beyoncé. It was really, really humbling to have to deal with the limitations that my body had always had, that I’d accepted as part of my identity, but now they were no longer acceptable. Maybe other people would have been able to do it in a shorter amount of time or not have to train as hard, but I knew that it would hurt so much more if I hadn’t just left it all on the floor. So at the end of it, I couldn’t say, ‘Well, yeah, I wish I’d done this better. I wish I’d done that better.’ But I know I literally couldn’t have worked harder.”

On body image and aging:

“So, I’m ready to have this great day with my family. And I am going to be in front of strangers, and people have phones. And all of the things. But my family is waiting for me. And I looked and I just went, ‘What?’ And then I looked again and I said, ‘You are 43.’ And looking at a 43-year-old body, I was like, ‘Nice.’ When I was expecting to see something that I am not, I felt insecure. But when I actually looked at what it actually is, I was okay with it…I think you realize that worry should be reserved for the really big stuff.”

Find out what Meryl Streep said about “skeletal bodies” and skinny models in Devil Wears Prada 2.