UPDATE: Anne Hathaway deleted her controversial Instagram meme that advised people to be a Helena Bonham Carter “in a world of Kardashians” a few hours after she posted it, and claimed she didn’t mean to put anyone down. The Alice Through the Looking Glass actress shared a new photo that said, “Post removed for unintended shade thrown,” and captioned it, “It never occurred to me I was pitting anyone against each other. Not my style. Peace x.”
Original story below
She doesn’t want to be Kim or Kendall or Kylie. Anne Hathaway shared a version of a popular meme on Instagram on Monday, May 23, that encourages people to be different “in a world of Kardashians.”
The 33-year-old actress shared the words “In a world of Kardashians … Be a Helena Bonham Carter” alongside a photo of the Fight Club star with her signature messy hair in a ponytail and a basic (at least by Hollywood standards) outfit, holding a plain coffee mug. “(Red) Queen,” Hathaway captioned the photo, referring to Carter’s Alice Through the Looking Glass character. The two actresses play sisters in the recently released fantasy film.
Carter, who turns 50 this year, seems to have a different view on beauty and aging than the Kardashians. “You can’t worry about things you can’t do anything about,” she told Harper’s Bazaar UK earlier this month. “Bits of me are different ages, anyways. My knees are really ancient, I’ve always had terrible eyes and a terrible back. My arms and tummy are quite good.” But she did have one philosophy that’s probably a Kardashian motto: “It’s all down to the lighting. Sometimes you look marvelous and sometimes you look terrible.”
The Instagram post was met with some backlash from commenters who thought Hathaway was tearing down other women. “Really Anne? You don’t have to put other people down to bring someone up,” one Instagram user wrote.
Other commenters thought it was just a good-natured joke and praised the Oscar winner for choosing a positive female role model. “I take it to mean that it’s okay to not focus on superficial things in a society where these things are what seems to be given more value nowadays,” another commenter wrote.
The Intern star recently welcomed a son with husband Adam Shulman in March, and a few weeks later, Hathaway’s on-screen sister Carter realized she’s sort of an aunt to the little boy. “I’m so happy for them,” she said in a Facebook Live Q&A. “So that makes me an aunt.”