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Who Is Adam Shulman? All About Anne Hathaway’s Husband

Get the scoop on actress Anne Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman.

By Deb Taylor
January 15, 2021 | 9:00 a.m. CST
Just like real-life royalty, The Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway is known for keeping the details of her personal life under wraps. So it was quite a surprise in 2019 when she announced her second pregnancy on Instagram. Hathaway even revealed, “For everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies.” Her admission raised a few questions. Is the actress married? Who is the father of her children? We’ve got the answers—read on to get the scoop on Anne Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman.

Who Is Adam Shulman?

Adam Shulman was born on April 2, 1981, in New York, New York. He is a 2003 graduate of Brown University’s theatre department and has a handful of acting and production credits to his name. But perhaps more famous than his professional achievements is his status as Anne Hathaway’s husband and the father of her two children. Shulman met Hathaway at the 2008 Palm Springs Film Festival. The actress had just split from her ex, convicted fraudster and money launderer Raffaello Follieri, and was concerned that the ensuing media frenzy and FBI investigations would stain her career. But Shulman seemed to provide a sense of calm. According to a profile in Harper’s Bazaar, Hathaway immediately confided in a mutual friend that she was sure she’d marry Shulman. “I was just very honest with him. I knew from the second I met him that he was the love of my life. I also knew that I couldn’t have met him at a worse time… I took my trust out for a ridiculous joyride with him… And he has never hurt me.” In a 2017 Elle story, Hathaway’s friend, actress Emily Blunt, offered her stamp of approval. “[Adam] has been Annie’s greatest achievement in many ways,” said Blunt. “He’s sort of home away from the storm of fame that she lives with.”

Adam Shulman And Anne Hathaway Had A Spectacular Private Wedding

In September 2012, after four years of courtship, Hathaway married Shulman in Big Sur, California. The couple did not want a highly publicized event, and many of the details were reported in the weeks after the nuptials. According to Vogue UK, Hathaway stunned in a custom off-the-shoulder Valentino gown. Her custom emerald-cut engagement ring, made by Kwiat and co-designed by Shulman, is said to be a whopping six carats. The couple exchanged vows in front of 150 guests on a private estate. Afterward, they dined on all vegan fare and danced to music by the San Francisco-based jazz trio Americano Social Club. The couple sold pics of the big day for charity. Proceeds benefitted Freedom to Marry, which campaigns for gay couples to have the right to wed, as well as the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and The Girl Effect.

Adam Shulman Is A Professional Jewelry Designer

Shulman may have dipped his toes in the show biz waters but his current career is in jewelry. About a decade ago, he and metalsmith Heidi Nahser Fink co-founded James Banks Design. Shulman, the grandson of a jewelry designer, designs from Los Angeles; Nahser Fink fabricates from a studio in Marin County, just outside of San Francisco. Designs range from $250 for tiny butterfly wing stud earrings to $80,000 for a diamond-encrusted bracelet with a combination lock. Shulman had a hand in creating his wife’s engagement bling, but it’s clear she is often a muse for him creatively. For instance, the label’s signature pendant, The Lightkeeper, is filled with black diamonds and a single ruby to signify a rising phoenix—was designed for Hathaway. The design was inspired by a conversation between Shulman and Hathway about Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent lightbulb. “I don’t feel like I have the lights in my life,” Hathaway told Shulman while she was working on a film in London and he was doing theater work in New York.  The jewel was originally intended to be just for Hathaway. However, that all changed when people started to take notice of the unique pendant. “Once people saw Annie wearing it, they wanted to know where to get a Lightkeeper pendant,” Shulman told Introspective. “And with her blessing, James Banks was born in 2011.” Hathway was also the inspiration behind the company’s butterfly collection. “The inspiration for a character Annie was working on was a butterfly, and she wanted a butterfly jewel, but the only ones she could find were encrusted with gems or for children,” Shulman said. Shulman has even assisted with Hathaway’s red carpet looks. Hathaway told Access Hollywood he designed “the coolest rings” for her to wear at the 2013 Met Gala, where the theme was “Punk: Chaos to Couture.” The rings spelled out the acronym PTFO, which means “peace the [expletive] out.” “I think she loves [the designs],” Shulman told the LA Times. “My family is my biggest inspiration. They support you. I don’t think I could wait for a big reveal, you know? As I’m drawing it, it’s like, ‘What do you think of this? What do you think of that?’ Step by step.”

There’s A Wacky Conspiracy Theory That Adam Shulman Is William Shakespeare

Given the couple’s preference for privacy, we’d bet that Shulman never expected to become the subject of a conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2018, his face went viral on Twitter. It began when user @PEACHYBLACKG0RL pointed out the jeweler’s resemblance to poet and playwright William Shakespeare: Naturally, the internet ran with it. Theories ranged from the couple being time travelers to blood-sucking immortals: https://twitter.com/Ckrishnan_/status/1013669315864743936 It sounds like a fun theory, but we’re sticking to the story that they’re just a normal couple who enjoys raising their two kids—Jonathan and Jack—away from the spotlight.