Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) the bed he bequeaths her as "the second best" to remind her of the best bed of their memories. The novel was dramatised for BBC radio in 1998 with Maggie Steed playing Hathaway. The Connie Willis short story "Winter's Tale," which combines factual information about Anne Hathaway with a fictitious Shakespeare identity theory, also characterises the nature of the relationship as loving and the bequeath of the second-best bed as romantically significant. Anne Hathaway appears in Neil Gaiman's comic book section , part of "The Sandman" series. She and Shakespeare share a tumultuous, yet affectionate, relationship. Gaiman's interpretation suggests that
Anne Hathaway premiered at the 2008 Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals and Hathaway garnered widespread acclaim for her performance. Peter Travers called Hathaway "raw and riveting as Kym" and added that she "acts the hell out of it, achieving a state of sorrowful grace." Hathaway's performance garnered nominations for an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Drama. Hathaway starred in "Bride Wars" (2009), which she described as "hideously commercial – gloriously so". The romantic comedy, in which she and Kate Hudson played two best friends who become rivals after their weddings are scheduled