Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson have spent the past several weeks promoting Verity, the dark psychological thriller that places the two actresses at the center of a complicated and unsettling story.
Away from the cameras rolling for the film, however, their relationship looks considerably warmer.
A recent promotional appearance featuring the two stars has attracted attention online after Johnson made a playful gesture toward Hathaway’s very visible baby bump. The brief moment quickly became the kind of celebrity interaction that gets replayed, screenshotted and interpreted by thousands of viewers.
But behind that tiny moment is a much bigger story: Hathaway is expecting her third child at 43, while she and Johnson appear to have developed an easy friendship while making one of their darkest films yet.
A Tiny Gesture That Suddenly Became the Focus
The viral moment came as Hathaway and Johnson appeared together while promoting Verity. With Hathaway’s pregnancy impossible to miss, Johnson’s attention briefly shifted toward her costar’s belly.
It was a fleeting, playful interaction rather than some dramatic announcement. Still, social media did what social media does best: freeze a few seconds of footage and turn them into a conversation.
Some viewers found the interaction funny and affectionate. Others debated whether touching or gesturing toward a pregnant woman’s stomach crosses a personal boundary.
Without comments from the women themselves saying otherwise, however, the short clip shouldn’t be treated as evidence of discomfort or conflict between them. Their public interactions during the Verity press tour have instead been notably friendly.
And Hathaway has certainly not been hiding her pregnancy.
Anne Is Expecting Her Third Child at 43
Hathaway revealed in June 2026 that she and her husband, Adam Shulman, were expecting their third child.
She announced the pregnancy herself with a video showing her dressed in flowing white clothing. After initially concealing her stomach with her arms, she moved them away to reveal her growing bump and smiled.
Her representative also confirmed the pregnancy. Hathaway and Shulman, who married in 2012, are already parents to sons Jonathan, 10, and Jack, 6. ABC News
The announcement carried particular meaning because Hathaway has previously spoken openly about the difficulties she experienced on her journey toward motherhood.
At 43, she has described this pregnancy as something she and Shulman deeply appreciate rather than something they assumed would happen.
Her Baby Bump Has Become Part of a Remarkable Year
Pregnancy hasn’t exactly coincided with a quiet period in Hathaway’s career.
Quite the opposite.
Her 2026 schedule has included an unusually concentrated run of major projects, and Verity arrives at the end of a year in which she appeared across five films. At the New York premiere, Hathaway reflected on the surreal combination of an exceptionally busy professional year and preparing to welcome another baby. Vogue
Her maternity style has consequently become almost a story of its own.
At The Odyssey world premiere in London in July, she appeared in a dramatic blue Dior gown that prominently framed her pregnancy.
Then, at the September 29 New York premiere of Verity, Hathaway arrived in an elaborate black Prabal Gurung gown embellished with crystals and sequins.
Standing beside her were the two people at the center of the film with her: Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett.
Dakota and Anne Look Very Different From Their Verity Characters
That warmth between Johnson and Hathaway is particularly amusing considering what audiences are about to watch them do on screen.
Verity, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, stars Johnson as struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh. She is hired to finish the books of successful author Verity Crawford, played by Hathaway, after Verity becomes incapacitated.
Lowen enters Verity’s home and becomes increasingly entangled with her husband, Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett, while discovering material that makes her question everything she has been told.
The resulting story involves obsession, attraction, manipulation and uncertainty over what is actually true.
Yet the actors apparently became close while creating all of that darkness.
Hartnett has described himself, Hathaway and Johnson as becoming friends during production and said they worked collaboratively with an intimacy coordinator while filming the movie’s more complicated physical scenes. People.com
One Scene Between Dakota and Anne Wasn’t Even in the Book
Their off-screen comfort apparently helped produce one of the film’s most unexpected sequences.
Hathaway revealed that Verity includes an intimate moment between her character and Johnson’s character that wasn’t originally part of Hoover’s novel.
According to Hathaway, the scene developed collaboratively with director Michael Showalter and Johnson. Hathaway proposed the idea as a way of expressing the strange psychological relationship developing between Verity and Lowen.
Johnson then contributed something memorable of her own: a scream that Hathaway later praised as an exceptional moment. People.com
It’s another reason their relaxed promotional appearances together feel almost surreal when placed beside the movie itself.
On screen, they’re navigating obsession and psychological danger.
Off screen, they’re laughing together and creating viral moments involving Hathaway’s baby bump.
Dakota Is Entering a New Chapter of Her Own
The timing is interesting for another reason.
While Hathaway prepares to become a mother for the third time, Johnson has recently been speaking more openly about what she wants from the next chapter of her own life.
Now 36, Johnson has undergone significant changes personally and professionally following the end of her long relationship with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
In a recent Vogue profile, she discussed embracing a more independent period of her life while continuing to build projects through her production company, TeaTime. The profile also explored Johnson’s thoughts about motherhood and the possibility of eventually having a family of her own. Vogue
That context has inevitably made fans pay even more attention to affectionate moments between Johnson and her pregnant costar.
But the women themselves have given no indication that Johnson’s playful gesture was intended as anything more than precisely that — a playful moment between colleagues who became friends.
Anne Has Been Proudly Showing Her Pregnancy
Hathaway, meanwhile, has repeatedly embraced her changing body throughout this pregnancy.
Rather than disappearing from public view, she’s incorporated her bump into some of the year’s most memorable red-carpet looks.
At the Verity New York premiere, the actress chose a fitted black gown specifically emphasizing her silhouette. The following day, she continued the film’s promotional tour in another sheer black ensemble designed around her bump. InStyle
It follows months of similarly playful maternity fashion.
In June, she stepped out in a striking red look while promoting The Odyssey. In July came the enormous blue Dior gown. In August, she appeared with her bare stomach visible in a blue ensemble at another premiere.
The pregnancy has therefore unfolded unusually publicly — even while Hathaway continues protecting the privacy of the two children she already has.
Her Family Life Remains Surprisingly Private
For someone who has spent more than two decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actresses, Hathaway has managed to keep much of her home life remarkably removed from celebrity culture.
She and Shulman have been married since September 2012, but their sons rarely appear publicly.
Hathaway has spoken about motherhood over the years, yet she has generally resisted turning Jonathan and Jack into public figures simply because their mother happens to be famous.
That makes this pregnancy an interesting contrast.
The baby hasn’t arrived yet, but Hathaway’s growing bump has accompanied her through premieres, interviews and promotional appearances for months.
And now one spontaneous interaction with Dakota Johnson has become another little snapshot from that period.
One Viral Moment, Two Very Different Stories
Taken alone, the viral clip lasts only moments.
Placed in context, though, it captures two actresses experiencing very different turning points.
Hathaway is nearing the arrival of her third child while finishing an extraordinary professional year. Johnson is moving through a period of personal change while increasingly taking control of the kinds of stories she wants to make. And together, they’re promoting a film in which their characters share a relationship considerably more disturbing than anything audiences have seen between the actresses themselves.
The recent RARE PHOTOS and behind-the-scenes moments from the Verity press tour reveal a much lighter relationship: shared laughs, glamorous premieres and the occasional spontaneous interaction that wasn’t planned for the cameras.
Perhaps that’s why the baby-bump moment attracted so much attention.
In a publicity tour built around a movie about secrets, obsession and uncertainty, one of the moments people couldn’t stop watching was something much simpler — two costars apparently having fun together. Vogue
If you’re looking for more heartwarming stories, you might be interested in hearing about Christopher Reeve’s son Will Reeve’s private battle with cancer or perhaps explore some health tips like 7 signs you have a B12 deficiency and the benefits of eating cucumber at night.
