Anne Hathaway has told how she felt damaged by fame.

The Hollywood actress, 31, was catapulted into the limelight with her Oscar-winning role in 2012 film Les Miserables.

But she told Elle magazine: " This fame thing? F***ed me up for a really long time. I didn't know how to do it; I didn't know how to engage with it.

"it stressed me out. And people would say, 'You just have to be yourself,' and I was like, 'But I don't know who that is yet!'."

Anne said that tying the knot to actor Adam Shulman two years ago changed her outlook.

She said: "The first year of my marriage was insane. So much happened so fast, and we didn't get to focus on just being married until about a year in.

"So now, it's just about letting myself feel safe...There was a part of me that I was keeping in reserve, and when I got married, something shifted...That question of, 'How long's this gonna last?' is off the table. And when you're not worried about that, there's space to just be silly."

The Interstellar star said: "I've realised that I don't need validation from anybody. At all. I'm not sitting here now worrying, 'What do you think of me?' With all due respect, you seem like a lovely lady, but I don't need you, or anyone else, to like me. And that's so liberating. It's a big reveal, man."

Anne features in the November issue of Elle UK, on sale from October 2.