Jonathan Mendelsohn
Harry Potter star Emma Watson, 33, has opened up during an interview with The Financial Times about her decision to quit acting. She was accompanied by her family in the interview, which promoted her brother Alex’s new gin brand, Renais. Watson has not appeared in a movie since 2019’s Little Women.
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Regarding her acting career, Watson said, “I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest. I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over.”
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Watson continued, “To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.”
Watson also told the outlet that she was done being “held accountable in a way that I began to find really frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say.” She added, “And I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it. I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better.'”
Watson has recently explored other endeavors in the entertainment industry, including directing a short film for Prada. She also told The Financial Times that she was asked to direct a music video for a well-known artist, but she did not disclose the identity of the musician in question. While Watson did admit that she has enjoyed her hiatus from acting, she is planning to return to the profession by 2024 to act in an undisclosed film.
