Seth Rogen says Anne Hathaway left Knocked Up after deciding one especially graphic childbirth scene was not something she wanted to film.
During a recent episode of The A24 Podcast, Rogen appeared with his The Invite collaborator Olivia Wilde and reflected on the making of the 2007 comedy, which follows two strangers whose one-night encounter leads to an unplanned pregnancy.
Wilde said she had once auditioned for the film without landing a role, prompting Rogen to explain that Hathaway had originally been cast before Katherine Heigl ultimately played Alison Scott.
“It was Anne Hathaway who quit the movie,” Rogen said, to which Wilde asked: “Because of the crowning right? Is that real?”
“Crowning is a tough one. She didn’t want the crowning of the baby to be visually representative.
“Even though it wasn’t going to be hers… It’s obviously not real.
“But she didn’t even want, she felt that it was not her brand.”
Rogen said he understood there could have been more than one reason for her exit, noting that rehearsals had already begun by the time she stepped away.
“Part of me also, we had started rehearsing the movie…maybe she was just like, ‘I don’t know if this is for me’. I don’t know.
“I will take what she said at face value, which was the crowning.”
He added that Hathaway was right to make the decision that felt best for her and praised Heigl for taking over the role.
“Yeah, I mean, it could have been a hundred million things. But that was what I remember being told.”
“She knew what was right for her, yes. And then Heigl was great. Katie Heigl was great.”
The comments arrive just weeks after Hathaway announced that she is expecting her third child with husband Adam Shulman. In the June 2026 Instagram post, she revealed her baby bump with the caption, “Baby, I’m yours.”
Hathaway and Shulman, who married in 2012, are already parents to sons Jonathan, born in 2016, and Jack, born in 2019.
Hathaway’s 2026 film slate is also packed, with projects including The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mother Mary and The Odyssey among the titles currently associated with her.
