People News

Anne Hathaway's ex wanted marriage

Jun 22, 2012, 15:02 GMT

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend wanted to marry her before he was jailed.

The actress - who is now engaged to Adam Schulman - had been dating Raffaello Follieri for four years when he was arrested and subsequently jailed on 14 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering and the disgraced businessman admits their relationship was going well until his legal difficulties.

Raffaello - who has now been released from prison after serving three-and-a-half years of a four-and-a-half year sentence - said: 'We were talking about marriage.

'I was very much in love with her.'

Despite pleading guilty to the charges, Raffaello insists he isn't a bad person.

He told People magazine: 'I'm not a saint. But I'm not the devil.'

The 33-year-old Italian admitted he felt his 'life was over' when he first entered prison, but he soon learned to deal with his sentence and the gruelling conditions.

Speaking in his native Rome, he said: 'I thought my life was over.

'But I learned to survive by focusing on getting through one day at a time.'

Anne has previously admitted she thinks she can be 'too trusting' and that Raffaello's fraudulent behaviour had left her 'very wary'.

She said: 'It takes a minute for me to let my guard down, but once I do and I get to know someone, I'm very open, very trusting. Some might say too trusting.'

Although jewellery given to the 'Devil Wears Prada' actress by her ex-boyfriend was auctioned off by US authorities last year she can now joke about her ordeal.

When asked to name her 'deal-breakers' with men, she replied, 'Uh ... fraud?'