Emma Watson has been a star ever since she landed the role of Hermione Granger in Harry Potter over 15 years ago.
And the actress told Vanity Fair in a new interview that the only way she can cope with her fame is by having strict rules, including no selfies with fans outside of red carpets.
“For me, it’s the difference between being able to have a life and not,” she explained.
“If someone takes a photograph of me and posts it, within two seconds they’ve created a marker of exactly where I am within 10 meters.
“They can see what I’m wearing and who I’m with. I just can’t give that tracking data.
“I’ll say, ‘I will sit here and answer every single Harry Potter fandom question you have but I just can’t do a picture.’
“I have to carefully pick and choose my moment to interact. When am I a celebrity sighting versus when am I going to make someone’s freakin’ week? Children I don’t say no to, for example.”
Similarly, Emma won’t talk about any relationship she is in, because she wants “to be consistent” when it comes to keeping her private life private.
“I can’t talk about my boyfriend in an interview and then expect people not to take paparazzi pictures of me walking around outside my home. You can’t have it both ways,” she told Vanity Fair.
“I’ve noticed, in Hollywood, who you’re dating gets tied up into your film promotion and becomes part of the performance and the circus. I would hate anyone that I were with to feel like they were in any way part of a show or an act.”
Life on the A-list: Emma Watson has talked about how she deals with fame | VANITY FAIR
Emma almost quit acting when she enrolled at Brown University in 2009 because she thought it was “now or never” if she wanted to step away from fame, but has now learned to find the balance.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 10 or 11, and I’ve often thought, ‘I’m so wrong for this job because I’m too serious; I’m a pain in the ass; I’m difficult; I don’t fit,” she said.
“But as I’ve got older, I’ve realised, ‘No! Taking on those battles, the smaller ones and the bigger ones, is who I am.'”
Emma is currently promoting the live-action reboot of Beauty and the Beast, in which she plays Belle, ahead of its release on March 17th.
