The internet has completely lost its mind over The Devil Wears Prada 2, and honestly? I am right there with it.
Here’s the part that made me actually laugh out loud at my laptop: the film drops in theaters on May 1, 2026. My 20th soberbirthday. Twenty years. Two decades. The same year Anne Hathaway walked onto the Oscars stage alongside Anna Wintour herself, served a look that broke the internet for a full 48 hours, and then watched the world collectively lose it again over a red designer purse… repurposed as a popcorn bucket.
I’m not saying God has a sense of humor. I’m saying the evidence is mounting.
From the Oscars Stage to the Popcorn Aisle
Anne Hathaway presenting alongside Anna Wintour. The two of them. Together. On that stage. The Runway and the Redemption Arc, standing side by side under Hollywood lights while the rest of us processed our feelings in real time through memes.
Then came the popcorn bucket. The iconic red structured purse from the original film, reimagined as your new movie snack vessel. It’s going to sell out. Obviously, it’s going to sell out. Sober people, movie people, fashion people, and people who just really love a themed container all united in one glorious, chaotic moment of want. I’m declaring this now – if I can get my hands on one and you want to do a trade for the Eminem STAN Pill Bottle poporn bucket, you have a deal! Or, if you score both and want to sell them to me, this is your invitation to slide into my DMs.
If you told 2006 me that twenty years later I would be sober, running a media company, and genuinely considering whether to order a luxury-adjacent popcorn bucket online — I would have told you that you had the wrong girl. And yet. Here we are.
What Anne Hathaway Actually Said About Not Drinking
Before Devil Wears Prada 2 turned the entire internet into a mood board, Anne Hathaway had already quietly made news in sober circles with something much simpler than a fashion moment.
She said she’s not drinking while her son is growing up.
No dramatic backstory. No breakdown montage. No tearful confessional on a late night couch. Just a woman, a decision, and a boundary she drew for herself and her family. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
And it hit.
The Story Is Changing
We’re trained to expect a very specific celebrity sobriety story. Career peak, chaos spiral, public implosion, rehab, comeback tour, memoir deal. Very Lifetime movie. Very everything-has-to-get-terrible-before-it-gets-good.
Anne’s version? A mom who decided alcohol doesn’t get to be part of this chapter. No drama required.
I’ve been sober since May 1, 2006. My last drink was April 30, 2006. I didn’t lose everything before I got sober. I was at the beginning of realizing I wanted a completely different road. And that was enough.
When famous people choose sobriety or alcohol-free living without a catastrophe attached to the story, it cracks something open. It makes space for the person who is high-functioning at work but privately uneasy about how often they need a drink to decompress. Hitting every milestone on the outside while feeling like something is quietly off on the inside. “Fine” by every external measure and still waking up wondering why they can’t stop.
If the only stories you ever see are the ones where someone had to lose everything, you start to think, “My life isn’t bad enough to qualify.” That’s the myth. That’s the wall that keeps people stuck.
Sober and famous used to mean cautionary tale. The before-and-after spread in the tabloids. The “sources say she’s struggling” item in the gossip column. The very public unraveling that everyone watched with their hands half over their eyes.
That’s changing. Not because the tabloids got kinder (they didn’t), but because there are enough people now, famous and otherwise, who are choosing to live alcohol-free and simply… continuing to live. Anne Hathaway is going to premieres. She’s showing up on red carpets. She’s standing next to Anna Wintour at the Oscars and making the whole room forget to breathe for a second. She’s not a cautionary tale. She’s a woman who made a decision and kept living her life.
When someone like Anne says “this isn’t for me right now” without a disaster attached to it, the wall gets a little shorter.
Sober in the Room Where It Happens
Think about Anne’s actual professional life: press tours, premiere nights, award shows that run three and a half hours and come with full open bars, fashion week front rows where the champagne never stops moving. Alcohol isn’t just present in those rooms. It is the entire atmosphere.
A lot of people use it as social armor. The glass in your hand as prop and permission slip. It signals “I’m relaxed,” “I belong here,” “I’m not nervous.” When you take that away, you have to actually just… be there. Fully. In your body. In the room. A little exposed.
But here’s what sober people who have been doing this for a while know: once you get through the awkward phase of just being yourself without the buffer, you start to notice things. You remember the speeches. You actually have the conversations. You’re the one the next morning with all the receipts. Which is its own kind of power.
Twenty Years and a Popcorn Bucket
I’m going to the movies on my 20th soberbirthday. That feels like the right move.
Twenty years ago, I was a different person making very different choices, and I genuinely couldn’t have told you what my life was going to look like on the other side of getting sober. I definitely wasn’t picturing a sober lifestyle media company, a podcast, 17,000+ subscribers, and a red designer popcorn bucket I have absolutely no business buying. Side note: I just became the proud owner of a lipstick lamp by Rachel Zoe, and it’s quickly become one of my (many) prized possessions.
Twenty years feels like looking back at someone else’s life and also like it all happened last week. It feels earned and accidental at the same time.
Sobriety doesn’t just clean up the mess. It hands you a life you didn’t know to ask for. Bigger, stranger, more specific, more yours than anything you could have planned.
So if Anne Hathaway’s version of that life includes choosing not to drink while raising her kid and also somehow ending up in one of the most culturally loaded film sequels of the decade — I’m very much here for it. And if the universe decided to schedule that film’s release on the exact day I turn twenty years sober, then clearly something out there has taste.
Coincidence? I think not.
XOXO, AB
Sober culture is everywhere if you know where to look. Explore our curated collection of famous people in recovery for more stories that feel less like cautionary tales and more like proof of what’s possible. Have a story of your own? Contact us and let’s talk.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 Official Trailer
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Q: Is Anne Hathaway actually sober?
A: Anne Hathaway has publicly said she is not drinking while her son is growing up. She has not used the word “sober” to describe herself, and she has not shared a recovery story in the traditional sense. What she has shared is a clear, personal boundary: alcohol does not get a seat at the table during this chapter of her life. Whether that makes her sober, alcohol-free, or just someone who made a quiet decision for her family is honestly up to her. We are just glad she said it out loud.
Q: Why did Anne Hathaway stop drinking?
A: She has pointed to motherhood as her reason. Specifically, she has talked about wanting to be fully present for her son and not drinking during his childhood as a deliberate choice she made for herself and her family. No disaster required. No rock bottom. Just a mom drawing a line and sticking to it. Which, for the record, is a completely valid reason to stop drinking and one we do not talk about nearly enough.
Q: What does Anne Hathaway’s sobriety have to do with The Devil Wears Prada 2?
A: Honestly? Only that the universe has a very specific sense of timing. Devil Wears Prada 2 is releasing in theaters on May 1, 2026, which also happens to be the 20th anniversary of my sobriety date. Anne Hathaway, alcohol-free and thriving. A sequel to one of the most iconic films of the 2000s. A red designer popcorn bucket that broke the internet. And my soberbirthday. All in the same weekend. We are calling this a sign and moving on.
Q: Do you have to hit rock bottom to get sober?
A: No. Full stop. The rock bottom story is the most overused narrative in recovery culture and it keeps a lot of people stuck because they think, “My life isn’t bad enough yet.” That is not how this works. You are allowed to make a change before everything falls apart. You are allowed to look at your relationship with alcohol and decide it is not working for you even if your life looks fine from the outside. I got sober at 26. I had not lost everything. I had just gotten honest enough with myself to admit I wanted something different. That was enough.
Q: What is the difference between sober and alcohol-free?
A: Technically, both mean not drinking. Culturally, they can carry different weight. “Sober” is often associated with recovery from addiction or a formal decision to stop drinking permanently. “Alcohol-free” is broader and more neutral, and a lot of people prefer it because it does not imply a clinical label. At The Sober Curator, we hold space for both. We do not care what you call it. We care that you are showing up for your life with your eyes open. Use whatever word fits.
Q: Can you go to events and red carpets without drinking?
A: Yes. Emphatically, yes. This is one of the questions sober people get most often and it is also one of the most liberating things to discover on the other side. You can go anywhere. You can have fun. You can be the most interesting person in the room. You just do it without a glass in your hand. The adjustment is real, especially in industries where alcohol is basically ambient, but once you get through the first few rounds of showing up sober, you realize you are not missing the party. You are actually at it for the first time.
Q: Who else in Hollywood is living alcohol-free?
A: Quite a few people, and the list keeps growing. Some are open about recovery from addiction. Others have simply said publicly that they do not drink or have stopped drinking. Our Famous People in Recovery hub covers this in depth, because we believe these stories matter. Not as cautionary tales. As proof that a full, interesting, successful life on the other side of alcohol is not only possible — it is actually pretty great.
Q: What is The Sober Curator?
A: The Sober Curator is an award-winning sober lifestyle and pop culture media platform founded by Alysse Bryson, who has been sober since May 1, 2006. We cover entertainment, wellness, travel, non-alcoholic drinks, spirituality, and sober events for people who are sober, sober-curious, or living an alcohol-free life with no days off. We are not a treatment center. We are not a recovery program. We are the culturally intelligent, funny, human corner of the internet for people who want a big, full life without alcohol running the show. thesobercurator.com
