Accio, truth!
Emma Watson is pulling back the curtain on why she traded the red carpet for a quieter life. The -year-old Harry Potter star, who became a household name at just years old, is opening up about her long-running break from Hollywood and the “soul-destroying” pressures of being a global icon.
In a candid new interview with Hassan Akkad for Hollywood Authentic, the actress—last seen on screen in ’s Little Women—revealed that stepping away from the spotlight has been the best decision she ever made.
“I am maybe the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been,” Watson shared, reflecting on her current distance from the acting world.
For Watson, the struggle wasn’t necessarily the acting itself, but the “public persona” that came with it. She described the exhaustion of having an identity that “needs constant feeding and sprucing and glamorizing,” calling the process “very energy-intensive stuff.”
The actress, who famously reunited with costars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for the HBO Max special Return to Hogwarts, admitted that the business side of the industry eventually took a toll on her spirit.
“I’ll be honest and straight-forward, and say: I do not miss selling things,” Watson confessed. “I found that to be quite soul-destroying.”
While she hasn’t missed the high-stakes press tours or the pressure of “selling” her art, she admits there is a void where the creativity used to be.
“I do very much miss using my skillset, and I very much miss the art,” she noted. “The minute the camera rolls… getting to just completely forget about everything else in the world… it’s such an intense form of meditation. It’s so freeing. I miss that profoundly.”
However, don’t expect her to jump back into a blockbuster anytime soon. Even a recent low-stakes project with friends reminded her why she needed a breather.
“I did a small thing for a play, just with my friends. I was like, ‘Bloody hell, this is stressful!'” she joked. “I don’t miss the pressure.”
Watson’s comments come at a time of major transition for the Wizarding World. While she has moved on from her days as Hermione Granger, Warner Bros. is currently busy reviving the franchise with a brand-new TV series for HBO that will fully reboot the original books.
While Watson didn’t comment on the upcoming series, her focus seems firmly planted on her own journey of self-discovery. By stepping away from the “fractured” life of a child star, she’s finally finding out who Emma is when the cameras aren’t rolling.
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