Actress Anne Hathaway burst into tears when she chopped off her hair for upcoming movie Les Miserables.

In the musical, the 29-year-old star plays Fantine, a struggling mother who is forced to cut and sell her long, flowing locks in a bid to help provide for her child, who was born out of wedlock.

Producers offered to fit Hathaway with a wig so she wouldn't have to chop off her own locks, but the gutsy beauty took a risk and allowed hairdressers to give her a pixie crop.

However, The Devil Wears Prada star didn't expect to be so heartbroken by her decision.

She explains, "I wasn't expecting it to be such a big deal because it was my idea. It's something I've wanted to do for such a long time and I knew it was something that the character did, so I offered it to the director and he said yes.

"Then, as it got closer, I just thought, 'Oh, well, I can't really take it back now.' I've done back flips out of windows, I've jumped off of buildings and yet cutting my hair reduced me to, like, mental-patient-level crying. I was inconsolable."