Katherine Heigl, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and the rise of women who 'try too hard'.

The year was 2013, and we had hit peak Jennifer Lawrence.

After starring in The Hunger Games franchise, Lawrence was just about to accept the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in The Silver Linings Playbook.

By this time, Lawrence was a household name and having her attached to a project was guaranteed to make it a box office hit. Lawrence herself had been a refreshing addition to the Hollywood cannon. She was funny and honest. She wasn't afraid to make fun of herself. And she was determined to make sure we knew she was just like us.

In short, Lawrence was Hollywood's ultimate 'cool girl next door'.

Watch: Jennifer Lawrence watches 10-year-old interview. Post continues after video.

So when she fell up the stairs while rushing to accept that Oscar, it felt like just another classic Jennifer Lawrence moment. Of course, she's clumsy just like us!

Soon, though, the tide began to turn. Lawrence became the latest victim of Hollywood oversaturation and people began to look at moments like that Oscar fall in a new light. She was trying too hard; they said. That can't be her real personality.

Her next few movies didn't hit like they used to (I'm still trying to figure out what on earth Mother! was about) and Lawrence quietly stepped away from the spotlight.

In 2021, Lawrence returned with her role in the hit Netflix comedy-drama Don't Look Up. During the press tour, she spoke about her years-long hiatus.

"I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I'd gotten sick of me. It had just gotten to a point where I couldn't do anything right. If I walked a red carpet, it was, 'Why didn't she run?' I think that I was people-pleasing for the majority of my life. Working made me feel like nobody could be mad at me: 'Okay, I said yes, we're doing it. Nobody's mad'," she told Vanity Fair at the time.

"And then I felt like I reached a point where people were not pleased just by my existence. So that kind of shook me out of thinking that work or your career can bring any kind of peace to your soul."

Last month, Lawrence's new comedy No Hard Feelings hit the box office. It was a big swing - a coming-of-age sex comedy that was so close to being controversial only Lawrence could pull it off.

With the film's release, came the full Jennifer Lawrence renaissance. On the press tour, Lawrence was her usual funny, candid self. She joked about Mother! and the fact that even she didn't know what it was about. Magazines labelled her a 'style icon'. TikTokers praised her self-deprecating humour.

The consensus was in: we love JLaw for exactly the reasons she disappeared in the first place. JLaw is back, baby, and she is finally being appreciated for being the girl who "tries a little too hard to be cool".

Before Lawrence there was another Hollywood actress who was hit with the "tries too hard" brush. This time for being "too earnest".

We first met Anne Hathaway as the bushy eye browed geeky school girl turned princess Mia Thermopolis in 2001's The Princess Diaries. By the time she played Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada, Hathaway was a formidable force in Hollywood.

But that role, in a way, was the beginning of Hathaway's downfall. Playing the earnest Andy against the backdrop of funny, now iconic characters led to the first wave of 'Hathahaters', who criticised her earnest, over enthusiastic personality. Then in 2011, she agreed to host the Oscars with James Franco, as part of the Academy's bid to make the awards show more appealing to a younger demographic.

It didn't go well.

Hathaway was in peak musical theatre student mode that night - dancing, singing, changing outfits frequently -  which looked bizarre besides Franco's barely awake presence on stage.

"I think it looked slightly manic and hyper cheerleadery on screen... Whether or not it was an actual failure, it was perceived as a massive failure," she later told The Hollywood Reporter.

Anne Hathaway with James Franco during the Oscars, 2011. Image: Getty.

Like Lawrence, Hathaway has experienced a comeback this year. The Hathahaters have quieted down and people are beginning to appreciate Hathaway for the very qualities she was criticised for in the first place.

Then there was Katherine Heigl. Working in Hollywood since she was a kid, Heigl became a household name through her role as Izzy on Grey's Anatomy. After her stint on Grey's, Heigel starred in the film Knocked Up. Her star was on the rise until she was labelled "too honest".

In a profile for Vanity Fair at the beginning of 2008, Heigl was asked about Izzie's character arc on Grey's.

"It was a ratings ploy," she said. "It was absolutely something that shocked people; it wasn't predictable, and people didn't see it coming. It's our fourth season; there's not a lot of spontaneity left. And business is business; I understand that, but I want there to be some cooperation between the business end and the creative end, so there’s some way of keeping it real."

Later in the interview, she was asked about Knocked Up, and again delivered a bitingly honest answer.

"It was a little sexist," she told Vanity Fair. "It paints the women as shrews, as humourless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I'm playing such a b*tch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you're portraying women? Ninety-eight per cent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie."

But it was a statement that she released later that year while pulling out of the race for the Emmys that really brought Heigl undone. 

"I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organisation, I withdrew my name from contention," she said in her statement. 

"In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials."

The reaction was swift and brutal, how dare she turn her nose up at an Emmy? 

Heigl, like Lawrence, like Hathaway, quietly stepped away from the spotlight.

Listen to Cancelled where Jessie & Clare Stephens talks about the 'crimes' of Katherine Heigl. Post continues below.

She returned a few years ago in Netflix's hit series, Firefly Lane. Last month she was interviewed by her former Grey's co-star Ellen Pompeo for Variety's Actors on Actors series.

In the interview, Heigl stood by her decision to be honest and to stand up for herself.

"If you cannot stand up for yourself in this industry, very few people will stand up for you," she said to Pompeo. "So you'd better learn how to, and you'd better be OK with them not liking you for it."

The general consensus? We owe Heigl an apology. In light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement, it's now wild to think that an actress was cancelled for standing up for herself.

In the last year we've seen three of Hollywood's most talented women re-emerge from years-long hiatuses for the simple crimes of being "too cool", "too earnest", and "too honest".

Let's hope this means we're finally embracing women who "try a little too hard".

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.