Anne Hathaway explains why she’s an Arsenal fan

Anne Hathaway has explained why she became an Arsenal fan, after being spotted with the team’s shirt at The Devil Wears Prada 2 premiere this week.

Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway has made no secret of her support for Arsenal over the last couple of years, regularly posting pictures on social media wearing the team’s shirt, or making references to recent results.

Many Gunners supporters noted this week that Hathaway took to the red carpet for the London premiere of The Devil Wears Prada with an Arsenal shirt draped over her shoulder, presumably gifted to her by a fan.

But as for why New York City-born American movie actress Hathaway ended up supporting a north London Premier League football team, she’s finally revealed that it was for family reasons.

“There was a squad called ‘The Invincibles’,” Hathaway explained in an interview with the BBC. “And [there] was maybe the greatest player of all time, Thierry Henry, playing, and my dad was watching this match and James McAvoy was narrating it for him.

“My dad was like ‘that’s it, I’m an Arsenal fan’. And once somebody in your family declares a team, the whole family… (has to follow).

“We’ve got a great squad, and if anybody is going to do it, it’s going to be these guys. North London forever.”

After Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Leeds earlier in the season, Hathaway shared a joke about the result on Instagram, writing: “As if Leeds hadn’t already suffered enough from my “accent” in One Day… #coyg”

The actress was referencing her 2011 appearance in the film One Day, in which she played a character from a working-class family in Leeds.

The problem was that Hathaway’s attempt at a Yorkshire accent didn’t go down well, with critics and the general public not particularly impressed with the results. Down in London, her affiliation with Arsenal has been much better received.

With the mystery of her allegiance to the Gunners now solved, the hope is that they can give her a trophy to celebrate over the next month or so.

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