Anne Hathaway sizzles in Elle after responding to speculation that she underwent a facelift

Anne Hathaway sent temperatures soaring with a steamy new photoshoot and cover story for Elle.

The 43-year-old Oscar winner posed for a moody aquatic shoot shortly after she finally addressed speculation that she might have had a facelift in Elle UK.

In addition to posing for the cover story for the magazine's Summer 2026 The Epic Issue: Women of The Odyssey, Hathaway also appeared in Elle's Clothes of Our Lives series to share some of her biggest fashion moments over the years.

Hathaway was dressed in revealing teal and aquamarine ensembles as she was showered with rain.

She posed for the cover shot – which was shot by the Canadian photographer Norman Jean Roy – in a casual Fendi bodysuit with a gleaming bracelet, earrings and a ring from Bulgari.

Hathaway sported a blue-tinted smoky eye in several photos, including another one in which she wore a straw-like teal dress from Stella McCartney that hung dramatically off one shoulder. 

She let her long brunette locks cascade down her shoulders, framing her elegantly made-up face. 

The Odyssey star looked as if she had gone topless in another photo that broke the fourth wall and revealed the studio trappings, but she was covered up by a flesh-colored C'est Jeanne bodysuit. 

Hathaway was soaked by a stream of water while covering up with an aquamarine Tom Ford skirt that was starting to get soaked.

Similar studio shots put Hathaway in a pale green Mugler dress with an enormous feathered Celia Kritharioti headdress featuring long green feathers.

Closer shots on the other side of the mini-waterfall showed a dark, distorted view of the actress, while one featured her face perfectly framed by a break in the wall of water. 

Other dramatic photos showed her writhing around in a pool of water while gazing into the camera.

The film star was dressed in a green semi-sheer Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello dress with frills covering her bust.

Hathaway changed things up in another photo in which she splashed around in a puddle and raised her arms to the sky while wearing a textured dark blue Giorgio Armani bodysuit. 

Hathaway used her cover story as an opportunity to respond to speculation from fans about a possible facelift. 

The speculation swelled in March after she posted an Instagram video showcasing a trick her hairstylist, Orlando Pita, uses to give her face a lifted appearance. 

In the clip, she demonstrated how Orlando would create two hidden braids near her temples as a means of giving the eye area a little extra lift when creating her hairstyle.

Soon after she posted the video, speculation that Anne had undergone a facelift began to circulate online, but in her interview with ELLE, she said she found the rumors to be 'distracting.'

Posing for the July/August cover issue, she said: 'I wouldn't say pointed. But we're at a time when people feel very confident in assuming what they think is fact, and sometimes what they think is accurate and sometimes it's not.

'My preference would be to never comment on anything and to just live in the mystery and not draw attention to myself, but the speculation has gotten so loud that you do feel the need to just get your truth out there.

'And I'll probably always wonder, 'Should I have posted that or not? Should I have just kept going and done the thing that makes me happy and makes me feel more confident on the red carpet?'

'But I felt like the conversation was becoming distracting,' she said

The Princess Diaries star also stated that having a facelift is a 'huge medical decision.'

However, she didn't rule out the idea of going under the knife in the future.

'By the way, these are huge medical decisions that people are presuming. I wanted to show that like, "No, I didn't make a huge medical decision. It's just two braids,"' she continued.

'And by the way, the other thing about all this is, I might still get a facelift someday.'

Hathaway's magazine appearance comes after she reprised her role as journalist Andy Sachs in the long-awaited sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2.

She reflected on how her life has changed since she first played the part in the original movie 20 years ago.

'You know how you'll have certain memories or times in your life that you wish you could revisit because you're like, 'God, I wish I could go back there and be the person that I am now and know what I know now. That's what it was like,' Hathaway said.

'I've always felt this enormous debt of gratitude to the movie and how I was protected, especially by [director] David Frankel. 

'So it was exciting to get to go back and say thank you, and show all the work that I've done on myself and just aim to be an absolute delight every day.'

She added: 'To have worked so hard in my life to have… sorry, I do get emotional thinking about it, to have become a more positive person, to have become a healthier person, to have become a safer person, I was really happy that I could share that with people who were so formative and responsible for so many of the beautiful things that I have in my life.'