If you’d told fans of the undefeated Premiere League team in 2003/04 that they would not see Arsenal win again for more than 20 years they would not have believed you. Why? Because it’s the hope that kills us.
That hope seeps into the veins of the Arsenal fanbase – a fanbase that has come to include some unexpected A-list faces such as Kim Kardashian (and her nine-year-old son, Saint West), Dua Lipa and, most recently, Anne Hathaway.
So if you'd told Arsenal fans that Anne Hathaway would celebrate their 3-0 win against Real Madrid in the Champions League by belting out ‘The Angel (North London Forever)’ in a luxury hotel room with her air pods in, I’m not sure they’d have believed you either. But she did – and it’s gone viral.
Anne’s is a rather earnest, breathy rendition of the song by Louis Mark Dunford, the son of none other than Loose Woman Linda Robson, and a far cry from the way it’s usually belted out at the Emirates Stadium. Given that the New York-born, Oscar-winning actress has spent her adult life working on Hollywood blockbusters and living between various palatial properties in the US, her penchant for Bukayo Saka and Highbury Fields is not one anyone saw coming.
She finishes off Les Mis-adjacent cover by blowing the camera a kiss and saying, 'Congratulations lads, especially [Declan] Rice, especially [Mikel] Marino, especially Rice again,' in a transatlantic accent reminiscent of a tipsy aunty at a family party.
Understandably, fans have questions. ‘When stars like Anne Hathaway sing “North London Forever”, is it just fandom or is Arsenal becoming a global cultural movement?’ asked one user on X. Another joked, ‘I love how all these celebrities start coming out of the woodwork… where were ya’ll when United thrashed us in 2011? Or when Chelsea hung six on us in 2014? Get out of here.’ A third made a rather clunky Tottenham joke to say ‘only one club has been in North London forever’ and ‘their fan is a better singer (Adele)’. Well, it’s nice to see the fans interacting!
Until recently, Anne was what we’d call a ‘shy Arsenal fan’. Rumour has it she does frequent matches when she can, but she slips in under the radar in the usual celebrity uniform of dark glasses and a baseball cap. She’s not alone in this approach, Dua Lipa recently shared a series of photos supporting the team from a private box at the Emirates with her boyfriend/ fiancé Callum Turner and her dad Dukagjin Lipa. Kim Kardashian famously attended a match with her son Saint and some of his friends in 2023. Apparently, other A-list Arsenal fans include Demi Moore (what?), Dido and Charlize Theron, so it’s a diverse reach of people to say the least.
As for Anne, she only revealed her identity as a Gooner last year during the press run of The Idea Of You. During a junket interview, her co-star Nicholas Galitzine checked his phone and said, ‘one nil, Trossard’, the pair proceeded to fist bump each other before Anne released a guttural ‘phwaoor, I love you!’. Later on in the interview, she explained that they support the same ‘English Premier League soccer’ team and that Nicholas had been added to her family group chat ‘who are all Arsenal supporters. [They’re] obsessed’.
Until this conversation, there was no trace of Anne’s fandom online whatsoever. Evidently a born and bred Arsenal fan – for what reason we do not know – she has been incognito until now. Because of this, die hard fans will accuse her of jumping on the bandwagon even though they are about to come second for the third year in a row. But let’s let Anne do her thing. If a slightly cringe-inducing cover of North London Forever or a photo of Dua Lipa looking chic in a red leather jacket at the Emirates reels in a few new fans, then that's no bad thing.
And while we’re talking about bandwagons, the Arsenal women’s team beat Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter final too. And they’re currently second in the Premiere League, but only six points behind Chelsea. So props where props are due – the girls have been doing it for Arsenal for a long time already.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).