Los Angeles: Anne Hathaway got emotional on Thursday remembering the late director Jonathan Demme as she accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Demme directed Hathaway in the 2008 drama "Rachel Getting Married" and died two years ago at age 73. Hathaway appeared to wipe away a tear as she remembered the man she called her "most beloved teacher."
"Jonathan Demme believed in me as a person and as an artist. Jonathan Demme was the first artist I didn't have to convince that I was more than the girl from 'The Princess Diaries,'" she said. "I see him in the best of every moment -- his humanity, creativity, imagination and integrity were instrumental in leading me to my own."
The 36-year-old actress celebrated the land underneath her Walk of Fame star.
"The land that's beneath all of these stars and -- and how it was cared and kept for millennia, more than millennia by the Tongva people, which are the indigenous people who are the original inhabitants of southern California," she said. "And I think it's important to mention that they still live here today. So -- the soul and the spirit that runs through the Earth beneath us originates with and continues to be kept by them today. So I would like to begin by thanking the Tongva people and by acknowledging that they are the rightful keepers of the land that this star is on."
She praised her fans for showing up to her movies for the past two decades, adding: "And let's be honest. Not every film was good. But you showed up."
And she addressed her husband, the actor and producer Adam Shulman.
"The gift of being the focus and recipient of your tremendous and enlightened love is --along with motherhood -- the most important and profound part of my very blessed life. I am able to walk through this world as I do because you make me feel safe, held, seen and adored. I love you," she said.
With inputs from APTN
