About

Kathy Bates Smiling In Misery, also known as Annie from Misery, Misery is Alive! or Annie Wilkes Holding Papers and Smiling, refers to a reaction image and caption meme featuring actress Kathy Bates as the character Annie Wilkes from the 1990 horror movie Misery, based on a story by Stephen King. The image shows Annie smiling excitedly while holding a small stack of papers. The image originates from the scene in the film in which Annie reads Paul Sheldon's newest chapters, showing that her favorite character, Misery Chastain, is alive. The meme, which is typically used to joke about being delusionally optimistic, first appeared online in 2023 and began gaining traction in June 2025.

Origin

The horror movie Misery, based on a novel by Stephen King and directed by Rob Reiner, was released on November 30th, 1990. The film stars American actress Kathy Bates as the crazed fan Annie Wilkes and James Caan as novelist Paul Sheldon. One scene in the movie shows Wilkes reading new chapters written by Sheldon and exclaiming, "Misery is alive!" after reading that he brought back her favorite character.

On June 5th, 2009, YouTuber^[1] depaix posted a clip of the scene, gathering over 180,000 views in 16 years.

However, a frame from the scene did not emerge as a reaction meme until October 16th, 2023, with Twitter / X^[2] user @bklynb4by tweeted, "you just know she’d be the biggest swiftie," gathering over 14,000 likes in two years.

Spread

On April 15th, 2024, Twitter / X^[3] user @themoodzter tweeted an image of Kathy Bates as Annie from Misery alongside a caption that read, "this is how I am with movies that have a 3.2 on letterboxd." The post gathered over 9,000 likes in a year.

On January 11th, 2025, Tumblr^[4] user @bubbletea4ever tweeted an image of Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes from the movie Misery, writing, "imagine if she had a tumblr." The post gathered over 6,000 notes in six months.

On June 28th, X^[5] user @gchronicless tweeted an image of Kathy Bates in the "Misery is alive" scene from the film Misery, gathering over 350,000 likes on a post that read, "applying for my passport two days before my flight…"

A June 30th, 2025, tweet by X^[6] user @Anania00 read, "just remembered June is not the hottest month of the year," gathering over 60,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References