Anne Hathaway has been having an incredibly quiet pregnancy. I suspect that she’s being so undercover for several reasons. One, she understands that she grates on people’s nerves these days, so she’s been making an effort to “go away” while she’s in-between projects. Two, I suspect that she wants to be done with this pregnancy quickly so she can get back to work without her career being affected too much. In any case, it’s really rare thing for me to write about Annie these days, and I do kind of miss her.

So that’s why it makes me happy that Our Annie has taken it upon herself to defend Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer, who is arguably the most popular actress in the world right now. Jennifer, who has/had major roles in two franchises (X-Men and Hunger Games) and serves as the muse to one America’s most acclaimed directors (David O. Russell). That Jennifer Lawrence. The same Jennifer Lawrence who really doesn’t NEED Anne Hathaway to defend her, but sure. Since Annie is in the mood to defend her, sure, we’ll take it. You see, Anne was really pissed off about the “backlash” J-Law got after that weird incident backstage at the Golden Globes. So Anne took to her Facebook to say some words.

Dear the Internet,

It’s become pretty clear that the Jennifer Lawrence “scolding” was taken out of context and that she was dryly joking with a journalist who was indeed using his phone to take photos of her.

Let’s not continue the sad but common practice of building people – especially women- up just to viciously tear them down when we perceive them to have misstepped. Jennifer is a beautiful, talented, wildly successful, popular, FOUR TIME OSCAR NOMINATED young woman. Please let us not punish her for these things.

Sincerely,
A J-Law fan
‪#‎supportstrongwomen‬ ‪#‎imwithher‬ ‪#‎whycantwegiveloveonemorechance‬

[From Anne Hathaway’s Facebook]

As I said in the coverage of the controversy, I really didn’t “get” why the whole incident blew up the way it did. I could see how some people might read something into Jennifer’s delivery, but when I watched the video, it seemed pretty clear that Jennifer was just joking around and her delivery was just really dry. So, part of me agrees with Anne: this might be, and likely IS a case where people are manufacturing outrage against an enormously successful woman just because… something. Tall Poppy Syndrome? Misogyny? Or just miscommunication and/or a big misunderstanding?

As for Anne in particular defending J-Law… I suspect that in Anne’s mind, the exact same thing happened to her. Like, she faced backlash for “being perceived to have misstepped.”

PS… These 2013 Oscar photos are just a reminder of how much I disliked both of their dresses that year.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.