Anne Hathaway on growing older: ‘I feel like I keep blooming’

What is the shelf life of a rom-com queen? Anne Hathaway figured that her love life — on screen, at least — had hit an expiration date.

Call it ageism. Or maybe Hollywood still doesn’t know what to do with women over 40.

“All I know is I received lots of romantic scripts in my 20s, but when I hit 30, there was a shift and the projects were focused on motherhood,” the 41-year-old Oscar winner says with an ironic laugh. “One day I noticed that I hadn’t been sent a romantic movie in a long, long time.”

Hathaway doesn’t look much older now than when she was strutting in couture in the 2006 smash hit “The Devil Wears Prada.”

She played a young woman coming into her own. It’s a topic that Hathaway loves — and sees happening even in our 40s, 50s and beyond.

“We talk about coming-of-age stories that happen in the early part of your life. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I keep blooming,” she says. “I want us to look at each other in a constant state of bloom. And I thought my new movie had the ability to do that for audiences.”

“The Idea of You,” streaming on Amazon and based on Robinne Lee’s book, revolves around a 40-year-old Solene (Hathaway) with a bitter ex and a 16-year-old daughter (Ella Rubin). A meet-cute at a music festival leads to an unexpected romance with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the 24-year-old lead singer of a famous boy band.

Can this multigenerational love story survive? “It made me ask myself: Why do these kind of stories have to stop for women over 40?’ I was 39 going on 40 when we were filming, so it felt personal,” Hathaway says. “This is a movie about a woman who has the courage to try again.”

Hathaway’s personal life takes place in New York City with her husband, actor/producer Adam Shulman, and sons Jonathan, 8, and Jack, 4.

Her good life tips:

Finding a connection

Hathaway’s “Idea of You” character acknowledges the age difference between herself and a boy band superstar — and celebrates it at the same time. “She tells him that she’s too old for him. Then again, I’m 41 and think finding someone you connect with is so rare. Finding someone you connect with is so special,” she says. “That’s what I loved about this movie. My character has a depth of experience that comes with being alive for more than five minutes. She’s out of that frenzied time of her life where she is done asking, ‘Who am I?’ Then the things she least expects walks in the door and it’s love.”

Love hurts

Hathaway hates to burst anyone’s bubble, but she says filming a rom-com is the least sexy thing. “The first scene Nick and I had together was riding bikes across sand. I fell off my bike three times in a row,” she shares. “Then, in bathing suits, we had to jump into the freezing cold ocean and make it look hot. We were shivering, saying, ‘We have to make this sexy!’ Then, we got out on the beach and made out. It was such a trial by fire.” What about their first screen kiss? “The funny thing was the first big kiss happened in the last few weeks of shooting,” she adds with a laugh.

Sparking joy

Hathaway and Shulman met at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2008. She told a mutual friend, “I’m going to marry that man,” Hathaway says. “I think he thought I was a little nuts, which I am a bit, but I’m also nice. … I fell in love right away. I find so much joy in his presence. … I can be myself around him, and he makes me laugh. We just spark off each other.”

Early ambition

Hathaway grew up in Millburn, New Jersey, the daughter of labor attorney Gerald Hathaway and actress Kate McCauley. “I always wanted to be an actor and started auditioning in high school,” she says. “I said to my parents, ‘We have three kids in this family. If I’m able to book some commercials, then I’ll be able to help pay for college.’ That was just my good reason for them to allow me to audition.” Her first audition? “It was a public service announcement for anti-smoking. I had to react to a date coughing up a lung because he smoked. I was very confused, but so into it. And I booked my first job.”

Aging gratefully

“I’m cherishing life in my 40s,” Hathaway says. “I have a much better sense of how I like to do things at this age and a respect that there is more than one right way to do things. … I have 40 years of being alive. I’m so much better at sharing at this age, plus I’m kinder to myself now. And I can take other people in.”

Stay positive

Hathaway says that life’s blips don’t get her down. “The worst thing that happens to you can be the best thing for you, if you don’t let it get the best of you,” she says.

‘Let it go’

“I’m not big on holding things with regret. Let it go,” Hathaway says. “You’re lucky if you can say, ‘Why am I sweating anything today?’”