Emma Watson earned tremendous fame from her outstanding performance as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, and within a few years, she had disappeared from the screens without a trace. But it wasn’t that she wasn’t offered any more good roles anymore – she was. Instead, she voluntarily chose not to take up any projects – even huge opportunities – in Hollywood because she felt “caged” looking back at her acting career.
In an interview with the Financial Times, she candidly confessed to the same, saying,
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… 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.
Continuing, she expressed during the 2023 interview how “frustrating” she found all that to be, candidly sharing,
I was 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. And I started to realise 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.’
Then, in an interview with Vogue in January 2024, she was asked if turning down major Hollywood roles couldn’t have been easy for her. To this, Watson said,
Because I’m in a career that moves very quickly, the decision to take time to do these things felt like a very big decision. [Choosing] to go back and write and study and get behind the camera was terrifying for me because I’d never done it before. I had always been in front of the camera; I’d always been an actor.
For those who might not know, Emma Watson practically disappeared from the screens after 2019’s Little Women, going behind the scenes to pursue other ventures that she was interested in for almost six years now.
Emma Watson is Glad She Took a Break From Acting
Emma Watson in a still from the Harry Potter film series. | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.
While one might point out that, had Emma Watson chosen to continue acting, she would’ve become a major blockbuster star in today’s day and age with an unparalleled net worth, thanks to the remarkable demand for her acting prowess in the entertainment industry. However, when it comes to the actress herself, she confesses she’s pretty glad to have taken that years-long break from acting in the first place.
Talking to Vogue, she confided about the same, sharing,
I’m just so glad that I did [step away from acting] because I have this feeling of having my own voice and creative space and sovereignty in some way that I don’t think I did before – more autonomy. I’m so glad that I allowed things to be messy for a minute and to really allow myself to not know [what’s next], because the knowing that I’ve come to, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
She also pointed out how this has allowed her to “get a front row seat [with] some of the most successful, beautiful, incredible people in the world.” She said,
And when you have that seat, it becomes very, very clear that there is just absolutely no level of success that will make you in any way happy or content if you do not like who you are or enjoy what you’re doing when no one’s watching.
To say the least, the Harry Potter actress really chose to focus on her “inner scorecard,” or how she feels about herself on the inside, as compared to her “outer scorecard,” as in her outward success, for example, as seen on social media. And Emma Watson, for one, is pretty glad to have pulled that off during these past few years.
What Has Emma Watson Been Engaged in Since Her Acting Hiatus?
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in a still from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part One. | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Though she stepped away from the screens, Emma Watson didn’t entirely quit working. Rather, she focused on other aspects, including advocacy and creative projects. As she said back in 2020 in an interview with British Vogue, she turned her focus onto activism since she was keen to “embrace a role where she works to amplify more voices, to continue to learn from those with different experiences.”
In the past six years that she has been gone from the screens, Watson has launched a new wine-inspired gin, named Renais, with her brother Alex, and also enrolled herself for a master’s degree in creative writing at Oxford University. Plus, she tried her hand at directing as well, making her debut with a Prada Paradoxe fragrance commercial (via Lad Bible).
As of now, though, Emma Watson hasn’t completely retired from acting yet, but simply appears to be merely waiting for the right project. And, when that comes along, fans will be able to witness her magnetic presence back on the screens, once again. Until then, we guess she’ll continue to pursue her PhD in creative writing at Oxford University and be the face of Prada’s Re-Nylon collection in 2024.
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