Even though Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for her role as Fantine in the 2012 movie version of Les Misérables, it came at a price as the actress’ body and health took a toll, and she became “really sick.”

“I’d lost an unhealthy amount of weight in two weeks,” the 36-year-old 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.”

Anne Hathaway Les Mis
Getty Images

Anne loss 25 pounds to play the role, but she is still being impacted because of it today. “That weight loss was not a long-term good thing for my health, and it took a really long time to come back from it,” she said. “And I was still really sick because of it.” She also realized how the role kept her from truly enjoying her personal successes at the time.

“I had just turned 30. I had just gotten married,” the The Devil Wears Prada star recalled. “Even the most positive thing can be upheavals to your identity. So to just have this moment and not really know who I was — and the moment when you just feel like you’re on display — it wasn’t a comfortable feeling. And I didn’t do what I hoped that I would if I ever found myself in that moment.” She continued, “Life went on beyond it. I feel much emptier now. It would have been nice if had happened then, but I’ll still take it.”

These days, Anne has taken a better route when it comes to her health, as she recently revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she is saying goodbye to alcohol for her son, Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman, 2. “For 18 years. I’m gonna stop drinking while my son is living in my house,” the Serenity costar said. She goes to explain that she doesn’t “totally love the way” she drinks, and that her baby is “getting to an age where he really does need me all the time, in the mornings.”