He Treats Her Like a Princess: All About Anne Hathaway's Husband, Adam Shulman

“I’m going to marry that man." That's what actress Anne Hathaway told a friend when she first set sights on her future husband, Adam Shulman.

“I knew from the second I met him that he was the love of my life," Hathaway recounted years later to Harper's BAZAAR UK. The Oscar winner doesn’t like to spill too much about her personal life, but by all accounts, Hathaway has been very happily married for more than 10 years to a man most of her fans don’t know very well. Some even believe he could be a reincarnated William Shakespeare—after all, he kind of looks like the Bard, and Shakespeare’s wife was named Anne Hathaway…

Conspiracy theories aside, let's take a closer look at the Princess Diaries star’s real-life Prince Charming and find out all about Anne Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman, including how they met and fell in love.

Related: Anne Hathaway's Best Quotes on Being a Princess

Who is Anne Hathaway's husband?

Shulman is a 42-year-old native New Yorker who graduated with a B.A. in theater from Brown University. After college, he pursued an acting career. If you enjoyed the short-lived NBC series American Dreams or the little-known ABC Family prequel film The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, you might have seen him! According to IMDb, he also had a one-time role in The West Wing and a small part in Meryl Streep's 2015 musical drama, Ricki and the Flash.

Shulman eventually transitioned away from acting and has been designing jewelry for over a decade. He started a jewelry company, James Bank—named for his grandfather, who designed jewelry for his own wife—with business partner Heidi Fink. In fact, Shulman and Fink met on the set of Hathaway’s 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, where Fink worked on props and jewelry. The jewelry duo’s first piece, “Lightkeeper,” was inspired by Hathaway, according to Shulman. “My wife said to me, ‘I feel like when I’m away, I lose my light, I don’t have the light in my life with me.’” he recalled. The piece is shaped like a lightbulb and people can choose the precious stones that go inside it.

How did Anne Hathaway meet her husband?

Hathaway met Shulman in 2008 in the most normal of ways: through mutual friends. "I happened to meet a sexy guy the other day,” Hathaway said at the premiere of Rachel Getting Married in late 2008 when he appeared on the red carpet with her. She later said in an interview,"You know when you don’t know someone very well, you just meet them and you’re like, ‘Wow, you really have it going on?'... We hit it off immediately, but it took us a pretty long time to get together.” 

At the time she met Shulman, Hathaway was still reeling from a very public breakup. Earlier that year, she’d broken things off with Raffaello Follieri, the so-called “Vati-con” who was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding people, including priests, of millions of dollars. (He was released from prison in 2012.) The shock and public scandal took a toll on Hathaway.

Even though she liked Shulman, “I also knew that I couldn’t have met [Adam] at a worse time,” she admitted in 2014. Luckily, the relationship seems to have been just what she needed to heal. “I took my trust out for a ridiculous joyride with him," she said, "and he has never hurt me.”

When did Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman get engaged?

Hathaway was seen with a rock on her finger in late 2011; on Nov. 28 of that year, a rep confirmed that Shulman and Hathaway were engaged. Shulman reportedly helped design Hathaway’s engagement ring with celeb jeweler Greg Kwiat. 

When did Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman get married?

Despite being seen on red carpets together and being caught kissing in an NYC subway once, Hathaway and Shulman had a low-key courtship—and on Sept. 29, 2012, an even quieter wedding. They chose the mountains of Big Sur, California, for their big day, and the exact location was kept secret even from their 180 guests, who had to wear bracelets and board shuttles to be taken to the spot where the couple said their vows.

How many kids does Anne Hathaway have?

Today, Hathaway and her husband have two young boys. Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman arrived on March 24, 2016. (Rosebanks is a blend of Roseline and Banks, names that have meaning to both parents’ families.) He was followed by younger brother Jack, who arrived in November 2019—however, that birth was kept way on the down-low. Hathaway didn’t even share Jack's sex until she was overheard at the 2020 Critic’s Choice Awards saying “this is him” to someone as she showed a pic of the new baby on her phone. Meanwhile, his name wasn't shared publicly until nearly a year later, when Hathaway appeared on Live With Kelly and Ryan and Kelly Ripa called him "Jack."

During both pregnancies, Hathaway tried to keep it real with her fans while also keeping her privacy. She announced her first pregnancy on Instagram in order to beat the paparazzi to the punch. “Posting a bikini pic is a little out of character for me, but just now while I was at the beach I noticed I was being photographed,” she explained. “I figure if this kind of photo is going to be out in the world it should at least be an image that makes me happy (and be one that was taken with my consent. And with a filter).” 

She revealed her next pregnancy on Instagram as well, in July 2019. "It’s not for a movie,” she joked before opening up about her fertility struggles. “⁣All kidding aside, for everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies. Sending you extra love," she said.

So, what kind of dad is Shulman? “As was to be expected, he’s spectacular,” Hathaway said after Jonathan was born.

Related: See Kate Hudson's Cutest Moments as a Mom

What has Anne Hathaway said about her marriage to Adam Shulman?

Hathaway has nothing but good things to say about her husband and their marriage. “He walks into a room, and I light up, I can’t help it,” she told Harper’s BAZAAR UK. She had to tell him to get lost at some point during the London shooting of Les Misérables—“a few days into it I said, ‘I’m having too much fun, I just want to play with you and I need to be really sad right now.”’ 

In a time when many women are saying they don’t need a man, Hathaway feels a little differently about Shulman. “I think the accepted narrative now is that we, as women, don’t need anybody,” she told Elle in 2017. “But I need my husband. His unique and specific love has changed me.”

Is Anne Hathaway related to Shakespeare?

No, and neither is Shulman—but it's still a fun internet theory! It all started in 2018, when a Twitter user pointed out the eerie resemblance between Shulman and the Bard.

There have also been unsubstantiated rumors that Hathaway was named after Shakespeare's wife, but modern-day Hathaway has yet to confirm whether that's true. In the meantime, the conspiracy lives on!

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