Anne Hathaway did not enjoy smooth sailing after winning an Oscar — instead, she watched the internet turn against her.

Reflecting on the viral phenomenon years later, Hathaway recently revealed that the so-called “Hathahate” got so bad that it cost her roles. “A lot of people wouldn’t give me roles, because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online,” she said in a new Vanity Fair profile.

Luckily, there was at least one filmmaker who remained undeterred by the online backlash.

“I had an angel in Christopher Nolan, who did not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of,” she said, referencing her part in the Matthew McConaughey-led space epic, Interstellar. “I don’t know if he knew that he was backing me at the time, but it had that effect. And my career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn’t backed me.”

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Though Hathaway had already worked with Nolan as Selina Kyle in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, that role preceded her becoming the subject of the internet’s ire.

The actress won her first Oscar in 2013 for Les Miserables. While there is no set origin for the wave of backlash that hit Hathaway after taking home her first Academy Award, the online scorn is thought to be a reaction to her surge in exposure after hosting the 83rd Academy Award ceremony with James Franco in 2011, and then campaigning for her own win in a subsequent year.

Following her win, she was widely mocked online, with The San Francisco Chronicle dubbing her “the most annoying celebrity” and even her Oscars co-host commenting on The Howard Stern Show. When Stern said, “Everyone sort of hates Anne Hathaway,” adding that she comes off as "so affected and actressy,” Franco replied, “I’m not an expert on — I guess they’re called ‘Hatha-haters’ — but I think that’s what maybe triggers it.”

Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett

Speaking to her own reaction, Hathaway said, “Humiliation is such a rough thing to go through. The key is to not let it close you down. You have to stay bold, and it can be hard because you’re like, ‘If I stay safe, if I hug the middle, if I don’t draw too much attention to myself, it won’t hurt.’ But if you want to do that, don’t be an actor.”

She continued, “You’re a tightrope walker. You’re a daredevil. You’re asking people to invest their time and their money and their attention and their care into you. So you have to give them something worth all of those things. And if it’s not costing you anything, what are you really offering?”

While Nolan recently took home several Oscars for his box office phenom Oppenheimer, Hathaway next stars alongside Nicholas Galitzine in the One Direction-inspired  romance film, The Idea of You, which hits Amazon Prime Video on May 2.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content: