Emma Watson is one of the most accomplished young women in Hollywood. She’s the star of one of the most successful film franchises of all time, as well as a role model to women everywhere.
Below are 10+ interesting things about Emma Watson that fans didn’t know. She’s come a long way since the halls of Hogwarts, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still have a soft spot for Hermione!
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1. Emma’s a total bookworm!
A quick scroll through Emma’s Instagram reveals a lot. There’s hardly a picture where we don’t see her showing off her latest novel acquisition!
But her love of reading doesn’t stop there. Emma loves to share books with the world!
She’s even been known to hide them on subway cars and inside subway stations for others to find!
How blown away would you be if you just happened upon an abandoned novel on the subway with the inscription “Enjoy, love Hermione Granger.” I would die.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject, Emma does have a favorite Harry Potter book.
Of all the novels in the series, Emma’s favorite is *Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban*.
It’s a solid choice; a lot of good things happen in the third book.
It’s how the Marauder’s Map gets introduced, where Harry learns the Patronus Charm, and Sirius Black also bursts onto the scene!
2. She wasn’t actually born in the U.K.
Even though both of her parents are of English ancestry, Emma was born in Paris, France . It’s where she lived for the first few years of her life.
Then when Emma turned five, she returned to Oxfordshire, England to attend the prestigious Dragon Prep School.
3. Just like her character, Hermione Granger, Emma has brains to boot.
In 2014, Emma graduated from the Ivy League’s Brown University .
As you might have guessed, Emma pursued her love of languages to the highest levels, graduating with a degree in English Literature.
4. Emma knows how to rock and roll.
You can catch Emma starring alongside British indie band One Night Only.
Their single for “Say You Don’t Want It” was shot on the streets of New York and features Emma prominently throughout.
5. Playing Belle in *Beauty And The Beast* wasn’t the first time Disney had approached her for a role.
Emma was actually first approached for the live-action remake of Disney’s Cinderella .
Flattered as she was, Emma politely passed stating that her values just didn’t align with Cinderella.
Emma believed that, unlike Cinderella, “the core DNA of Belle is a feminist.”
“There’s this kind of outsider quality that Belle had, and the fact she had this really empowering defiance of what was expected of her. In a strange way, she challenges the status quo of the place she lives in, and I found that really inspiring.”
6. Emma dedicated her Britannia Award to her lost pet.
While accepting her award, Emma told the story of how her on-set hamster, Millie, passed while filming the first Harry Potter film.
It was a convoluted metaphor, designed to express how much she loved and cared for her peers.
It didn’t exactly go over well. Many people in the audience seemed confused by the tale.
It may have missed the mark, but the final “rest in peace, Millie” more than made up for it. Sometimes when you shoot your shot, you miss wide.
But the important thing is that you tried, Emma!
7. She’s a role model and an advocate for women all around the world.
Emma was made a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations.
She gave an empowering speech in 2014 on gender equality at the She For He campaign and has spoken with several world leaders on the subject.
Emma also had the opportunity to sit down and discuss gender equality with the Canadian prime minister.
“A privilege to talk to Prime Minister @justinpjtrudeau today about gender equality and the importance of bringing young people into politics.”
8. Emma keeps a journal on her at all times.
“I must have 10 different personal diaries : I keep a dream diary, I keep a yoga diary, I keep diaries on people that I’ve met and things that they’ve said to me, advice that they’ve given me. I keep an acting journal. I keep collage books. “
She says that they help her to “figure myself out.”
“It allows me to get things out of my head and work them out in a way that feels safe , which is really helpful. I can kind of play around with things.”
9. Emma is a certified Yoga and Meditation instructor!
When asked what motivated her to get certified, Emma said “I was like ‘I need to find a way to always feel safe and at home within myself’. Because I can never rely on a physical place.”
10. She blames her anxiety about turning 30 on society.
“I was like, ‘Why does everyone make such a big fuss about turning 30? This is not a big deal…’ Cut to 29, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so stressed and anxious.’ And I realise it’s because there is suddenly this bloody influx of subliminal messaging around.”
“If you have not built a home, if you do not have a husband, if you do not have a baby, and you are turning 30, and you’re not in some incredibly secure, stable place in your career, or you’re still figuring things out…”
“There’s just this incredible amount of anxiety.”
11. She believes in being her own partner.
“It took me a long time, but I’m very happy [being single]. I call it being self-partnered,” she said .
Many on social media, including famous poet Lang Leav, backed up Watson, who was saying how many women in their 30s feel!
12. When she saw people saying she had to be more inclusive with her feminism, she made sure to take that to heart.
“I saw ‘white feminism’ coming up again and again, and I was like, ‘Hey, this is clearly something that I have to meaningfully engage with. I have to understand this better,'” she said.
13. The pressures of fame have certainly made her feel disconnected from people around her.
Being a huge star is clearly not as glamorous as people think!
“There’s been moments when everything just got so big, where I almost had vertigo on my own life,” she said . “And it’s got so big I felt disconnected.”
“I am a sister. I belong to a family… There’s a whole existence and identity that I have, actually, that’s really important and weighted and solid that has nothing to do with any of that.”
“‘Am I still your daughter?’ You know? It has felt so weird sometimes.”
14. She is trying her best to separate herself, and her future roles, from her role in *Harry Potter*.
With Interview Magazine , she discussed how she navigates the world of entertainment as a former child star.
“I know that I’m under a different microscope, a certain level of scrutiny, which I find really hard at times.”
“And sometimes the fear of doing things is overwhelming. I get incredibly overwhelmed, and sometimes feel hemmed in by that, afraid of that.”
“But I know that if I live in that fear, then my life as an artist, as a human being, really, is over. Ultimately, it will silence me, and it will silence what is in me—which I have yet to explore and uncover.”
15. She believes that acting is a form of telling the truth.
Most people think that acting is like lying since one is pretending to be someone that they are not. But Watson disagrees.
“Acting is telling the truth under imaginary circumstances,” she said.
16. She has gone to therapy to discuss the anxiety she has with the industry.
“I’ve sat in therapy and felt really guilty about it, to be honest,” Watson said.
“Why me? Somebody else would have enjoyed and wanted this aspect of it more than I did. And I struggle with it, I’ve wrestled a lot with the guilt around that.”
“I should be enjoying this more, I should be more excited and I’m actually really struggling.”
Going to therapy should never have anyone feeling guilty!
Every job comes with its own set of pros and cons. Watson should only do what works best for her!
17. She believes in using technology, but making sure it isn’t used against her.
She acknowledges that it can be incredibly dangerous for people of all ages, even though it provides us with a ton of information.
She is certainly right about that!
18. Books are sacred to her because of her father.
“I just remember him reading to me before bed and how he used to do all the different voices. I grew up on film sets, and books were my connection to the outside world.”
19. She doesn’t like taking selfies.
“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.”
20. She doesn’t want whoever she is dating to be dragged into publicity.
She feels that it all gets twisted to get media attention for whatever project she has coming up next.
“I would hate anyone that I were with to feel like they were in any way part of a show or an act,” she said.
Do you know any more interesting facts about Emma Watson?
Or were you pleasantly surprised by all these facts that we presented you with? Which one was your favorite?
Let us know down below in the comments section! We would love to hear from you!
