Anne Hathaway revealed that an early-onset cataract in her left eye left her “basically legally blind” for a decade, beginning when she was 30 and running through her late 30s, before surgery improved her vision.
Anne Hathaway says she didn’t realize how much she was losing until after surgery made clear what “full spectrum” vision actually looked like.
Speaking on an episode of the New York Times’ “Popcast” released April 22, the 43-year-old described her condition as “basically legally blind” in her left eye for a period of her career. She tied the problem to an early onset cataract, a clouding of the lens of an eye.
Hathaway said, “I wound up getting surgery, and I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I could finally see the full spectrum.” She added that she has “calmed down since then,” saying she hadn’t understood how much the impaired vision was “actually taxing my nervous system.”
The actress explained that cataracts can start by affecting only part of the lens, causing slight vision loss, and then worsen as more of the lens becomes clouded. As the condition progresses, everyday activities can be impacted.
Her vision problems began in 2013, while she was filming Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning sci-fi film “Interstellar.” She later said the impairment lasted for a decade, from ages 30 to 40, before she treated the cataract.
During that same 30-to-40 window, Hathaway appeared in projects including “The Intern,” “Colossal,” “Ocean’s 8,” “Dark Waters,” and “Armageddon Time.”
Legal blindness, the Social Security Administration defines as meeting either of two criteria: having 20/200 eyesight or worse in the better eye, even with corrective glasses or contacts, or having a field of view no more than 20 degrees wide.
Since the treatment, Hathaway said her outlook on everyday sight has shifted. “I appreciate [my] vision because I literally feel like every day, I wake up and I get to see the way that I do, it’s a miracle,” she said.
Anne Hathaway cataract legally blind Popcast New York Times Interstellar surgery Social Security Administration