Anne Hathaway says Amazon’s Modern Love gave her heightened compassion for people with mental illnesses

Anne Hathaway says playing a bipolar character in Amazon’s new series _Modern Love_ affected her emotionally long after she wrapped the role. Hathaway plays Terry Cheney, a woman navigating romance with bipolar disorder, in an episode of the anthology. The series, based on The New York Times’ column of the same name, debuts 18 October. [caption id=“attachment_6854311” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Anne Hathaway. Image from Twitter[/caption] At a Television Critics Association meeting Saturday, Hathaway said the role gave her a heightened compassion for people with mental illnesses who can’t walk away once the cameras stop rolling. She said she hopes telling stories like Cheney’s will open up the conversation surrounding mental illness. After reflecting on her role, Hathaway lightened the mood when she was asked how she feels about her newly announced second pregnancy. “How do you think?” she replied, smiling. Consisting of eight standalone episodes, the half-hour series will explore love in all of its complicated and beautiful forms including sexual, romantic, familial, platonic and self love. Dev Patel, Tina Fey, ohn Slattery, Catherine Keener, Andy Garcia, Cristin Milioti, Brandon Victor Dixon, Olivia Cooke, Andrew Scott, Julia Garner, Shea Whigham, Gary Carr, Sofia Boutella, and John Gallagher Jr are also part of the cast. In addition, Shameless alum Emmy Rossum will direct an episode of the series, as will Sharon Horgan and Tom Hall. Horgan will direct the Tina Fey-John Slattery led episode, which she also wrote. Hall also wrote his episode, while Rossum will direct an episode written by the late Audrey Wells. John Carney is the series writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner, writes  Variety. Modern Love, which was ordered to series in June 2018, marks the latest anthology series for Amazon. The streamer recently launched the Matthew Weiner series The Romanoffs. The series produced by Storied Media Group and the New York Times, is currently in production in New York. (With inputs from The Associated Press)