Anne Hathaway shared gross advice she was given when she began acting

Anne Hathaway is the name on everyone's lips right now for more than one reason. Not only is The Odyssey still making waves in cinemas, but Monday (3 August) also marks the 25th anniversary of the film that introduced so many of us to the Oscar-winning actor.

We are, of course, talking about The Princess Diaries.

And with fans still eagerly hoping for long-awaited confirmation that The Princess Diaries 3 is finally on the way, it's the perfect time to look back at Hathaway's journey from reluctant Genovian royal Mia Thermopolis to one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

While many of us remember her as the awkward teen princess who won our hearts, the reality behind the scenes was far less fairytale-like, with the actor later revealing she was given some deeply troubling advice roughly a year before landing the role.

Hathway was just 17 when she starred in The Princess Diaries (Disney)

At the time, Hathaway was just 16. She'd auditioned for a different movie, after which the casting director gave her the job before makinga series of comments about her appearance.

The Devil Wears Prada star previously told Allure: "At 16 years old, it was ‘Congratulations, you have the part,' 'I’m not saying you need to lose weight. I’m just saying don’t gain weight.’ Which of course means you need to lose weight."

Needless to say, she went on to have an incredible career anyway, and recalled a time where she was actually asked to do the opposite and to gain weight for a role, in the film called The Last Thing He Wanted.

Anne Hathaway is expecting her fourth child but shared some horrifying advice she got when she was young (Photo by Dominik Bindl/FilmMagic)

Hathaway who is now 43 and is expecting her third child, claimed director Dee Rees asked Hathaway if she could gain 20lbs for the role, and she was all too happy to oblige.

She revealed how the costume designer for the film had a peculiar request: "So I had that, then 20 years later I have Anne Crabtree asking me what my body does on my moon – which I realized meant my period – so she can make adjustments for me. It was just this beautiful thing."

She shared a post on Instagram of a weight training routine as she sought to bulk up, and captioned it challenging anyone who 'fat shamed' her: "I am gaining weight for a movie role and it is going well. To all the people who are going to fat shame me in the upcoming months, it’s not me, it’s you. Peace xx,

She signed off with a joke: "P.S, I wanted to set this to Queen’s 'Fat Bottomed Girls' but copyright said no."

Anne revealed she has lost and gained weight many times over her career (Photo by TheStewartofNY/GC Images)

Asked if she thought Hollywood was changing, she said: "I am cautious in my praise of how Hollywood is shifting. There is so much more body inclusivity – which is great! – but the thin thing is definitely still the centralised ‘normal’ expectation."

"Bodies change. Bodies grow. Bodies shrink. It's all love (don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)"

She later went on to have an extreme weight loss for the role of the starving Fantine in Les Misérables, who was meant to look near death, but said the process made her 'really sick'.

“I’d lost an unhealthy amount of weight in two weeks," she told PEOPLE. "I didn’t know anything about nutrition. I taxed my body, and my brain bore the brunt of it for a while. I just felt very anxious and very lost at that time."