Anne Hathaway admits 'not trusting' female director

Hathaway won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Les Miserables

Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway has admitted to not trusting female directors in the past due to "internalised misogyny".

In an ABC interview, the star said she didn't give her all to director Lone Scherfig in 2011 film One Day.

"I really regret not trusting her more easily," she said.

"And I am to this day scared that the reason I didn't trust her the way I trust some of the other directors I work with is because she's a woman."

Hathaway starred in One Day with Jim Sturgess

Hathaway added: "I'm so scared that I treated her with internalised misogyny. I'm scared that I didn't give her everything that she needed."

• Is it still a man's world behind the camera?

The actress questioned whether she was "resisting her on some level. It's something I've thought a lot about in terms of when I get scripts to be directed by women".

Hathaway told the Popcorn with Peter Travers show: "When I get a script, when I see a first film directed by a woman, I have in the past focused on what was wrong with it. And when I see a film... directed by a man, I focus on what's right with it.

"I can only acknowledge that I've done that and I don't want to do that anymore ... I, before I realised this, had actively tried to work with female directors. And I still had this mindset buried in there somewhere."

'Never apologised'

But the actress added that she knows how difficult it is for women to get "the reins to anything".

"That journey is way harder than it should be. It's not equal," she said.

"And I wonder if it's about the thought process like the one I just talked about. About undervaluing what it takes to make your first film."

Hathaway said she would call Scherfig after the interview to apologise.

"I've never apologised to her about it," she said.

"It wasn't an issue of professionalism. I hold her in such a dear place in my heart and I think she does for me, too."

A representative for Scherfig told ABC News: "Lone Scherfig is deep in pre-production of her next film and is consumed by it. She asked me to express her love and admiration for Anne and her work."

Hathaway has long been an advocate for women's rights and is a women's goodwill ambassador for the United Nations (UN).

She made a speech on International Women's Day last month at the UN calling on companies and countries around the world to offer paid parental leave.