Salva Mubarak Senior Features Writer

If there’s one thing all The Devil Wears Prada fans agree on it’s that Miranda Priestly was right. Florals for spring are not, in fact, groundbreaking. And that Nate Cooper (played by Adrien Grenier) was the real villain of the movie.

In case you haven’t seen the movie, you should remedy that right now. It’s got everything—a makeover montage, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and lessons from Streep on how to destroy someone’s confidence with just a look—and you should watch it and come back here. We’ll be waiting.

If you’re someone who has already watched the movie, then you would know what we’re talking about when we say that Andy’s boyfriend Nate was the actual antagonist of the movie rather than Priestly, as most people believe.

He was not supportive of Andy’s ambition at Runway and only spent the precious little time they got together calling her out for changing her look and, supposedly, her personality too. It doesn’t help that Andy had to miss his birthday dinner because of a work thing.

But while fans have unanimously declared him to be the Bad Guy ™, Hathaway has some opinions of her own.

In an appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, the actress was asked by a fan on whether she agrees with Nate being the villain of the movie or not. While Cohen enthusiastically agreed with the statement, Hathaway revealed that she didn’t think that was fair.

“I think that they were both very young, and figuring things out. He did behave like a brat, but I also behaved like a brat in my 20s and I hopefully grew out of it. I think that’s what we all do. And I wouldn’t want to be defined by the worst moment in my 20s, certainly, so I don’t hold Nate as a villain, actually.”

When she puts it like that, it makes sense and it seems unfair to pin Nate as the villain. But we also have to understand that this is a movie where Andy manages to secure unpublished Harry Potter manuscripts from JK Rowling at her boss’ behest on alarmingly short notice.

This is not a realistic take on life.

So if people believe that Andy deserved a boyfriend who was a little bit more understanding of Andy’s struggles with work and figuring out the new world she was occupying all of a sudden, it’s not too far-fetched, IMHO.

Grenier agrees with the masses, as he revealed in an earlier interview, “When that whole thing (about Nate being the ‘real villain’ of the film) first came out, I couldn’t get my head around it,” he said, “I didn’t understand it. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t mature as a man, just as Nate probably could’ve used a little growing up. I was just as immature as him at the time, so I couldn’t see his shortcomings, but, after taking time to reflect and much deliberation online, I can realise the truth in that perspective.”

He also urged the Nates of the world to “Step it up!” Amen.

Whether you’re Team Nate, like Hathaway, or not, we think it’s a good enough reason to rewatch the movie and make up our minds once and for all.