Share
April 7, 2014
By Stephen Exley From a distance, Emma Watson appears to embody perfectly the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle. The reality, however, is very different, the actress has admitted. After being cast as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as a precocious nine-year-old, Watson went on to find global fame by starring in all eight of the hit films in the series.
Share
By Stephen Exley
From a distance, Emma Watson appears to embody perfectly the
glamorous Hollywood lifestyle. The reality, however, is very different,
the actress has admitted.
After being cast as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone as a precocious nine-year-old, Watson went on to
find global fame by starring in all eight of the hit films in the
series.
Watson, now aged 23, seems to have made the transition from child
star to bona fide adult actress effortlessly, and is currently starring
alongside household names such as Russell Crowe and Ray Winstone in
biblical epic Noah. She has also made the move into modeling.
But Watson is striking out at the “dangerously unhealthy”
image projected by the fashion and film industries, and admitted that
the pressure to look flawless has taken its toll on her.
After the recent New York premiere of Noah, she
tweeted a picture of the vast collection of cosmetics she used to
prepare herself for the red carpet. Alongside another photo of her
wearing a backless black dress, she wrote: “I did NOT wake up like
this.”
Watson has also admitted that, in recent years, the pressure
to appear perfect has been a strain. “As a younger woman, that pressure
got me down, but I’ve made my peace with it,” she said.
"With airbrushing and digital manipulation, fashion can
project an unobtainable image that’s dangerously unhealthy. I’m excited
about the aging process. I’m more interested in women who aren’t
perfect. They’re more compelling.”
Watson, who is juggling her studies at Brown University
alongside her acting and modeling work, also admitted to struggling
with press attention at university, particularly from British
photographers.
“After Harry Potter, all that mattered was
university,” she told The Sunday Times. “It wasn’t always
easy to break down barriers, as having men from the British press
following me with cameras didn’t help my mission to integrate.”
Although the American media was relatively restrained, she
added, the attention of fellow students was a problem. “On the first
day, I walked into the cafeteria and everyone went completely silent
and turned around to look at me,” she said.
