Anne Hathaway is left red-faced when she asks The Tonight Show audience a question expecting a big reaction… and NO ONE responds

Anne Hathaway was embarrassed while promoting her new film The Idea of ​​You on The Tonight Show on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old actress appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show Tuesday to discuss her latest on-screen turn, which is based on author Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel of the same name and follows the story of a single mother who sparks an unexpected romance with an age difference with a young musician.

But while the film has garnered a lot of attention — and plenty of praise from critics — Hathaway, who stars in the film alongside Nicholas Galitzine, was met with a very awkward silence from The Tonight Show audience when she asked a question about its inspiration.

When asked about her on-screen love interest, Hathaway tried to describe how she knew Galitzine was the perfect person to portray him, before asking the audience if anyone had read the book – but was met with total silence.

She tried to describe how she knew he was perfect for the character, and asked the audience if anyone had read the book… but literally no one responded.

After a few seconds of absolute silence, a stunned Hathaway covered her mouth as Fallon joked, “No, we don’t read,” adding, “Well, you should, it’s fantastic.”

Fallon added, “We don’t read. This is the tonight show. Yes, you want to go to Stephen Colbert if you want to reach people who read books.”

Hathaway covered her face with both hands as the audience laughed, before calming herself down and trying to recover.

“Well, you’ve got a great book in front of you,” she said, as Fallon joked, “We do Audible here, does that count?”

Trying to get the interview back on track, Fallon added, “Okay, so it’s based on this book,” as Hathaway joked, “What’s a book?”

Hathaway added, “Well, the book has a fan following somewhere, and I think the book is incredible.”

She went on to say that her love character Hayes Campbell “is just so beautifully written in the book and that’s why we knew we had to find someone really special.”

“And he walked in and I just thought, ‘Oh, that’s Hayes Campbell.’ And that was almost two years ago, and now Nick and I have become really good friends,” Hathaway said.

After a few seconds of absolute silence, a stunned Hathaway covered her mouth as Fallon joked, “No, we don’t read,” adding, “Well, you should, it’s fantastic.”

Fallon added, “We don’t read. This is the tonight show. Yes, you want to go to Stephen Colbert if you want to reach people who read books’

“Well, you’ve got a great book in front of you,” she said, as Fallon joked, “We do Audible here, does that count?”

The interview comes shortly after the actress shared a new profile in the New York Times that she had been without alcohol for five years.

She said the achievement felt like a “milestone” to her, adding that “being 40 feels like a gift.”

The Princess Diaries star – who teased a third film in the series in the same interview – shared her recent years after revealing years earlier that she hoped to stay away from booze until her first child turned 18.

In January 2019, she appeared on the now-ended Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about how expanding her family with husband Adam Shulman made her want to get sober.