Stars including Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher and Chris Pine turned out for a charity gala in Los Angeles on March 18 to honour director GARY MARSHALL. The Pretty Woman moviemaker was the toast of the A Night At Sardi’s event which recognises stars who have helped in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Marshall, 75, whose mother suffered from the crippling condition, was honoured along with his producer sisters Penny and Susan, and actress/director Soleil Moon Frye, whose 2004 documentary Sonny Boy explored her father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. Hathaway, Pine and Kutcher turned out for the event, along with Demi Moore and Seth Rogen, while Brothers and Sisters hunk Gilles Marini and former Will and Grace star Eric MCCormack were part of a musical revue which provided the evening’s entertainment. The event, held in Beverly Hills, raised funds for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Anne Hathaway has reportedly been receiving letters from her jailed ex-fiance, conman Raffaello Follieri, begging the actress to “wait” for him so they can reunite when he is released from prison. The Italian businessman was sentenced to four-and-a-half years behind bars in December 2008 after pleading guilty to 14 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. The Devil Wears Prada actress dumped Follieri in June 2008, shortly before he was arrested by federal authorities and admitted to scamming more than $3.6 million (£2.25 million) from investment and real estate firms. The star has since embarked on a relationship with actor Adam Shulman – but Follieri has been finding it hard to move on, and regularly writes to Hathaway begging for a second chance, according to Britain’s Sunday Express. A source tells the publication, “Anne fears anything she says to him will lead to a fresh avalanche of mail. The letters are not only torturing Anne, they are putting pressure on her new relationship.”

Brokeback Moutain stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway are the frontrunners to score big at the Oscars in 2011, according to the leading Academy Awards race website. The three stars are all tipped to claim leading actor and actress Oscars nominations for the films Blue Valentine and Love & Other Drugs.

Anne Hathaway is adopting another dog. The Alice in Wonderland actress – who already has a much-loved chocolate Labrador called Esmeralda – went to Molly’s Mutts and Meows volunteer animal rescue centre in West Hollywood on Saturday (March 13) with her partner Adam Schulman where they were seen looking at a number of mutts, including a medium-sized terrier mix named Chuck. A source revealed: “She said she had one dog and was looking to adopt a second one. Most of the conversation was about Chuck, and whether he’s good with other dogs, house-trained, mellow, things like that.” The 27-year-old star – who has been dating Adam since November 2008 – took down information regarding the purchase of Chuck before leaving, and seemed keen on giving the pooch a home. The rescue centre has refused to comment or confirm the adoption of Chuck. Anne has previously credited Esmeralda for helping her land the part of classic English novelist Jane Austen in Becoming Jane, because she hardly slept a wink the night before her audition because her dog was so ill. She said: “I slept maybe an hour. When I arrived at the interview, I was tired and wasn’t in a very good mood. I guess Julian Jarrold realised that I wasn’t the bright, happy, smiley, untroubled girl from The Princess Diaries. He offered me the role after that.”

Anne Hathaway was left shocked by the seedy world of phone sex hotlines as she researched her role in Valentine’s Day after stumbling upon a bizarre fetish website detailing men’s weirdest sexual fantasies. The Devil Wears Prada actress stars in the new romantic comedy as an office assistant by day and phone sex operator at night. Hathaway turned to one of her friends, who used to moonlight in the industry, for advice but admits she was not prepared for some of the strange stories she read about sexual fetishes when she decided to look up the topic. She says, “I actually know someone who was an assistant, as my character is in the movie, and did moonlight as a phone sex operator, so I asked her a lot of questions. “I said, ‘Well I think my character is pretty smart so I think she’ll be the fetish girl.’ So then I started researching about fetishes, and oh my God. There was (sic) so many! The craziest one that I heard was about a man, who, the only way he could climax, was being yelled at by a woman who was wearing all leather while he was naked under a trenchcoat, on his hands and knees, pushing a hard boiled egg across the floor.”

Anne Hathaway has admitted that she would have done anything to play the White Queen in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. Hathaway joins Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Sheen, Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman in Burton’s re-telling of this classic story. In an interview with InStyle Magazine the actress said: “When I found out Tim Burton was on, I basically went into the studio and said, ‘I’m here, I want to play the White Queen. “I’m just letting you know I will do anything to be in this movie.’” The movie follows 19-year-old Alice who returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.

Anne Hathaway thinks she’s “not very pretty”. “I think I’ve got really weird features,” Anne told InStyle magazine. “I have very large features on a very small head. “But, you know, I’m not going to beat myself up. It’s my face. I’m not very pretty. But that’s OK because I do know that I look like myself, and I think at the end of the day, as nice as pretty is, authenticity is more important. “If I don’t work out at all, I have too much curve and no tone—which is not OK. It’s about finding balance.”

Anne Hathaway credits her parents with inspiring her acting ambitions at an early age – because they never prevented her from playing out her childhood fantasies. Hathaway grew up in New Jersey as the daughter of Kate MCCauley, an actress who toured in a production of Les Miserables. And The Devil Wears Prada star admits her parents’ emphasis on creativity encouraged her to perform. She tells Britain’s GQ magazine, “We were focused on theatre. I never dreamt about being a star or having my name up in lights. Creativity was encouraged in our family household, embraced even. I would walk around singing all day, doing scenes, pretending all day long. My two brothers loved that. My parents never said, ‘Pipe down!’ or ‘Quit that racket!’” But the 27 year old insists she never longed to be a famous Hollywood star. She adds, “I never had particularly romantic feelings about acting. My mother helped with that. I saw it as a job. An option.”

Anne Hathaway’s entire family denounced Catholicism after her elder brother Michael ‘came out’ as gay. The Devil Wears Prada star was a member of the Catholic Church growing up in New Jersey, but the actress and her parents, Gerald and Kate, as well as her younger sibling Thomas decided to leave the faith to support Michael after he revealed his sexuality. She tells Britain’s GQ magazine, “The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organisation that has a limited view of my beloved brother?” And Hathaway admits she’s still trying to figure out her religious beliefs: “So I’m… nothing (no denomination). F**k it, I’m forming. I’m a work in progress.”

Anne Hathaway was forced to arm-wrestle and slay a dragon to earn her Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award at America’s Harvard University on January 28. The Devil Wears Prada star was brought onstage by members of the Massachusetts institution’s amateur theatrical group, who poked fun at her career as part of the wacky annual ceremony. The all-male cast donned drag to portray Hathaway’s former co-stars Meryl Streep and Dame Julie Andrews, before forcing their honouree to sing, arm-wrestle and sword fight a student dressed as Puff Daddy the Magic Dragon. Hathaway was also treated to a ride in a convertible car for a parade, but insisted she didn’t mind the freezing temperatures and snowfall: “Personally with my skin tone, I probably would have gotten a sunburn, so the weather was perfect for me!” Last year, Renee Zellweger was forced to dress up in a fat suit to accept the Woman of the Year prize.