Exposé on Anne Hathaway’s ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri makes her look like victim?

There’s been a lot of negative feelings toward Anne Hathaway for her association with ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri. The charismatic entrepreneur and the princess actress traveled around the world together on chartered jets and yachts, and stayed in the best hotels. Hathaway had broken up with Raffaello 10 days supposedly before, Federal prosecutors closed in. Later, gossip columns would publish speculation that she had cooperated with federal agents, luring Follieri back to New York so he could be arrested.

According to an excellent Vanity Fair article here, Follieri and Hathaway had had a passionate relationship. He was stubborn, she was a drama queen, claim according to insiders. There were flare-ups and make-ups. Their breakup 10 days before had proved inconclusive and Hathway finally convinced Follieri it was over on the phone, leaving him in tears. Six hours later, federal agents arrested him.

Reading through the seven pages of the story, you realize that even though Hathaway was already a successful actress, at the time she met Follieri, she was also still a college student who had only one previous serious relationship. He was a supremely confident good looking man that swept her off her feet. At the same time, her continued success and growing fame actually created opportunities and opened new doors for ‘the con man’. I think ‘con man’ is how I would have to describe his alleged deeds and rise but you can draw your own conclusions. With that said the article kind of draws the conclusion that the feds might not have considered Follieri a big enough fish to have wasted time on had the opportunity for generating enormous publicity, not been there. One thing seems sure. “If Raffaello wasn’t dating Anne Hathaway,” says one person close to the situation, “this wouldn’t have happened.” Exaggerating Vatican contacts? Running up high expenses with a business partner? “The U.S. attorney doesn’t get out of bed for this sort of stuff,” the source scoffs.

For many this article will cast Hathaway in a more sympathetic light as perhaps a victim, but personally I think she was also very naive.