Emma Watson Pretended to Be ‘Incredibly Boring’ to Gain More Privacy
Though Emma Watson has been famous for decades, she manages to lead a pretty private life. Though the media often speculates about the actor’s life, it’s rare that they have any real evidence to back up their claims. This is, in large part, due to the way Watson has structured her life. She rarely, if ever, talks about certain aspects of her life. For example, Watson does not speak about her romantic relationships. In fact, Watson has even exaggerated certain parts of her personality in a bid to gain more privacy.
Emma Watson maintains a private identity for the sake of her movie career
Having a private identity is an intentional choice that Watson has made throughout the course of her career. The Perks of Being a Wallflower star has communicated that she doesn’t share much of herself for the sake of her work. According to Watson, fans need to be able to suspend their disbelief about her and her personality when they’re watching her portray a character. The Brown University alum feels that would be more difficult if she didn’t keep some parts of herself hidden.
The ‘Harry Potter’ alum pretended to be incredibly boring to gain more privacy
But it turns out that Watson’s need for privacy wasn’t simply motivated by her career. The Harry Potter alum required time away from the spotlight to figure herself out. In fact, the actor actually presented a more muted version of her personality to the world so people wouldn’t be as interested in her day-to-day life.
“I spent most of my time trying to convince everyone I was incredibly boring because I needed privacy and a minute to figure myself out,” Watson shared with Porter Magazine. Continuing on, Watson shared that life in the spotlight got to be a bit too much for her and she had to find ways to muscle through high-profile moments. “I used to have to go numb and close myself off, for example on the red carpet, just to get through it.”
Watson got candid about her struggles with red carpet events
Considering Watson has graced red carpets for most of her life, fans may be surprised to hear that they were difficult for her. So what was it about the events that was the most challenging for the British actor? In a separate interview with Rookie Mag, Watson explained that red carpets felt very unnatural for her.
“That’s something that I struggle with all the time, is how do you act natural when you’re on a red carpet and there are people screaming at you from this way and that and you feel so watched and observed?” Watson shared. “It is an unnatural situation, so it’s very difficult to find a way to be authentic. I find that to a certain degree my body just shuts down. It’s sensory overload—your body goes into a kind of defense mode. People try to have conversations with me when I step off a red carpet, and I can’t—I kind of just go numb and my brain stops functioning. So it’s difficult to find a way to be real, because it’s such an unreal situation.”
Fortunately, Watson seems to have found a better way to navigate the red carpet in recent years. Though she admitted at the 2022 BAFTAs that the events will likely always make her nervous, she’s found ways to approach them without numbing out.
