Anne Hathaway got emotional on the D23 stage Sunday, 25 years after her Disney debut launched her career as a teenager. The actress was inducted into the company’s Disney Legends hall of fame at the Honda Center in Anaheim, joining a class that also includes Bob Iger, Dwayne Johnson, Jerry Bruckheimer, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Jonas Brothers.
“Devil Wears Prada” director David Frankel and Vogue editor Anna Wintour introduced her, and Hathaway walked out to a sustained standing ovation. She told the crowd she counts herself among the most fortunate people alive, crediting a childhood spent in a household that valued storytelling and imagination. Her parents watched from the audience, along with her husband, Adam Shulman, and their two sons.
Hathaway’s history with the studio traces back to Aug. 3, 2001, when “The Princess Diaries” introduced her as Mia Thermopolis. She reprised the role in 2004’s “Royal Engagement” and later played the White Queen in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” and its sequel.
This year she returned to the “Devil Wears Prada” franchise as Andy Sachs in a sequel that pulled in over $690 million worldwide, pushing that series past the billion-dollar mark and adding a commercial case to what otherwise plays as a legacy honor. During her remarks, she thanked the late “Princess Diaries” director Garry Marshall along with producer Debra Martin Chase and the late Whitney Houston, who helped shepherd the original film to the screen.
The timing lands during an unusually busy year for the actress, who is also expecting her third child. Between “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The Odyssey,” “Mother Mary” and “The End of Oak Street,” her 2026 releases have combined for over $2 billion at the global box office, with the road-trip thriller “Verity” still to come in October. She made a separate appearance at D23’s entertainment showcase Friday to preview “Princess Diaries 3,” a continuation of the franchise rather than a reboot.
