So True? So False? Is Anne Hathaway Crash-Dieting for Les Misérables?!

British tabloid says the Oscar nominee is on a quest to shed 16 pounds for the aptly named flick

By Natalie Finn Mar 31, 2012 12:20 AMTags
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Is Anne Hathaway engaging in some real-life hunger games?

The bright-eyed brunette has reportedly put herself on a 500-calories-a-day crash diet in order to drop 16 pounds in less than three weeks to play the doomed Fantine in the upcoming Les Misérables, according to Britain's Daily Mail.

Quelle horreur! Hathaway is already about as long and lean as they come! Then again, the pressure to be perfect for a role has plagued many a star—and she is playing a starving prostitute who's dying of consumption. Costar Hugh Jackman's looking pretty gaunt as Jean Valjean.

Hang onto your pedometers, fans, because this story is...

So false!

Hathaway's rep calls the Mail's story—which has Hathaway living on apples and protein shakes—"a huge exaggeration."

"She is losing weight for the part, but not that much," she tells E! News. "Just enough for her to look more frail, as she is playing a dying prostitute. She is consuming more than 500 calories. [The tabloids] are making something of nothing, as usual."

Well, that's a relief. Hathaway may have gotten a kick out of working with Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises, but there was no need to emulate his diet for The Machinist, either.

Les Misérables, only the latest adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic but the first based on the hit musical, hits theaters Dec. 14.

—Additional reporting by Marcus Mulick