Anne Hathaway’s 2026 Oscars appearance had the internet wondering if she had enhanced her features with cosmetic surgery.
While she did not look dramatically different at the event, her striking facial features sparked “facelift” chatter online.
Responding to the rumors, the 43-year-old let her fans and followers in on the “secret” behind her youthful look in a behind-the-scenes video posted on Instagram on March 17.
The video soon went viral, with fans trying the trick themselves and sharing the results with others online. Still, many remained skeptical, believing Hathaway’s secret was nothing more than a way to distract viewers from her alleged procedures.
“Some people genuinely believing Anne Hathaway is 100% natural is proof of how warped plastic surgery has become,” one user said.
Anne Hathaway claimed her secret behind the 2026 Oscars look was just a hairstyle hack
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Hathaway walked the red carpet at the 98th Academy Awards at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater on March 15, 2026. She later gave away the award for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup & Hairstyling to Kate Hailey (Frankenstein) alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour.
The Interstellar actress arrived at the event wearing an off-shoulder black gown with pink flowers, designed by Italian haute couture label Valentino. She paired the dress with a wide black belt, black opera gloves, diamond jewelry, and Roger Vivier heels.
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However, it was her taut skin, high cheekbones, and sculpted jawline that kick-started the rumors of a facelift.
“Anne Hathaway wearing the classic combo of a fresh facelift with gloves to cover the aging hands,” one netizen wrote.
Another said, “Anne Hathaway got a facelift, and you can literally see how god d*mn tight her face has been pulled.”
Taking to Instagram, the Academy Award-winning actress shared a video of her getting ready for the 2026 Oscars.
Image credits: annehathaway/Instagram
In the clip, her hairstylist, Orlando Pita, revealed the trick that allegedly gave Hathaway’s face a sharp, smooth look.
“All right, drum roll please, Orlo, show them our secret,” Hathaway said.
Pita explained that the secret was to braid a few hairs tightly on each side, just around the temples above the ears, then pull them to the back of the head and secure them in place.
“And you look a little bit more awake,” Hathaway said, “That’s the trick.”
Netizens showed concerns about potential harm to the hairline
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An influencer who shared a video of herself performing the trick, Zil, stitched Hathaway’s video to her own, in which she tried out the hairstyle and showed how it instantly made her cheekbones higher and gave her face more definition.
“This is actually genius. WOW,” she wrote in the caption.
Several of the content creator’s followers were worried that while the hairstyle hack seemed to work, it might have damaging effects in the future.
Image credits: annehathaway/Instagram
“In the long run, this will cause you to lose your hairline,” one person warned.
Another individual, who claimed on their X bio that they were a skin doctor, said: “This is going to give you tractional alopecia in the long run (hair loss which can be more or less permanent). Not so genius if you ask me.”
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“People are about to lose their edges,” a third chimed in.
A plastic surgery community platform, called The Cosmetic Lane, commented: “The real way to fake a facelift is to get an actual facelift, then pretend the braids did all the heavy lifting.”
Anne Hathaway denied sharing “medical information” amid plastic surgery rumors
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The Devil Wears Prada star has always considered questions about plastic surgery “extremely intimate” to answer on public forums.
“I would say that asking people about surgery is a bit like asking them if they have s*x,” she told Vogue France in 2024.
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Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar for their April 2026 issue, Hathaway declined to discuss “medical information” when asked if she went under the knife before her Oscars appearance. She said such questions were invasive, but shared her thoughts on aging in general.
“I think that very often, conversations about aging presume that the first part of life is the happiest and the most fulfilling, and I don’t necessarily think that’s true,” Hathaway said. “I wasn’t expecting to find another gear at 40.”
Experts claimed Anne Hathaway had work done on her face
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Several cosmetic enhancement experts have shared their opinions on Hathaway’s recent looks, and they claimed that she has undergone the procedure.
Dr. Gary Linkov, a New York-based plastic surgeon, said Hathaway likely started taking Botox from around the age of 39, but there were no “obvious signs” of rhinoplasty, which is the medical term for a nose job.
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Dr. Kristina Tansavatdi, a plastic surgeon from Thousand Oaks, California, pointed out an “incision line” near Hathaway’s hairline, which hints at a “ponytail lift.” It is a minimally invasive, endoscopic technique where the surgeon inserts a camera through a small cut and lifts the cheeks and tightens the jawline.
“She has most likely had a deep plane facelift and neck lift, with some neck sculpting,” said Dr. David Gilpin of Nashville, Tennessee, after Hathaway’s Ralph Lauren Fashion Week 2025 appearance. “She probably also had a little bit of nano or micro fat around her cheeks.”
“Recipe for hair loss.” Netizens reacted to Anne Hathaway’s sharing her secret for “facelift”-like look
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