By Aaliyah Harry

Copyright hellomagazine

Emma Watson has always been a very outspoken person, but during her latest rare sit down interview on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, she showed us a new vulnerable side. The former Harry Potter actress didn’t just open up, she flung the door wide open – letting us all into her moments of joy and struggle in Hollywood. This interview just proved that the brightest stars sometimes have the most difficult battled behind the scenes; from her complex feelings towards J.K Rowling, to her lonely experience in Hollywood and navigating the pressures of untouchable beauty standards – the star bares all. If you’re not able to listen to the two hour long interview, we’ve narrowed down the clips into five digestible key points on the biggest revelations.

Emma Watson struggled with loneliness in Hollywood after Harry Potter

“I was bone-breakingly lonely,” Emma admitted, describing how success can be the very thing that isolates you. The star revealed that after working on the Harry Potter films during her childhood and creating such a close bond with her castmates, she had an expectation that every film set would be the same, but she quickly realised this wasn’t going to be the case. She explained: “[I thought] that the people I worked with were going to be my family and that we were going to be lifelong friends,” she said. “I came to work looking for friendship and that was a very painful experience for me outside of Harry Potter and in Hollywood. Like bone-breakingly painful because most people don’t come to those environments looking for friendships.”

The Beauty And The Beast actress also revealed that for most people she met, they were more focused on what they could get. “They’re looking for: ‘This is my chance. This is my role. This is what I want out of it. I’m focused. This is my job. This is my career.’ And I was not of that mindset,” the British star added. “I found the rejection really painful.” She said of the hit franchise: “It’s so unusual to make a set of films for 12 years and we were a community. We really were and so I took that as an expectation into my other workplaces, and I just got my ass kicked. I really did.”

Emma Watson’s thoughts on Harry Potter Authour, J.K. Rowling

Of course, no Watson interview could sidestep her complicated history with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. While the actress is clear she disagrees with the authors controversial views, she refuses to erase the bond completely: “I don’t believe in cancel culture,” she insists. “I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” she explained.

“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish to come back to our earlier thing, I just don’t think these things are either or.” The Perks Of Being A Wallflower star added: “I think it’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with.”

Emma Watson is pushing back against unrealistic beauty standards

Within the episode, Emma deeply criticised the unrealistic beauty standards in Hollywood, and explained that celebrities are exhausted by the constant pressure for perfection. “I don’t know how to live up to what I look like on the cover of a magazine. There’s such a glamorisation that comes hand in hand with being a public, famous person, especially if you’re a woman,” she said.

“I feel so envious of my male costar who can put on a T-shirt and just show up without this whole rigmarole of becoming acceptable enough to be on camera,” she admitted. The Bling Ring actress also commended Pamela Anderson’s commitment to going makeup-free on the red carpet and rewriting her own rules: “Kudos to Pamela Anderson recently doing the thing because the amount of courage that it takes to do that, I can not begin to even express to you.” Emma continued, “It’s wild. The expectations are insane. It’s impossible. The beauty expectations are so difficult to reach, and the bar gets raised all the time, so you’re constantly on a survivor island game show beauty nightmare.”

Emma Watson’s true thoughts on her driving ban

In July, Emma got her UK driver’s license revoked for six months after she was caught speeding – and it made the headlines everywhere. The British It-girl confessed that it left her feeling like her mistakes were under a global microscope. However, she also admitted she was surprised about the reaction it got. She said: “I was getting phone calls, like it’s on the BBC. It’s on international, worldwide news. I was like, my shame is everywhere.”

However, after a bit of thought, the actress said it was actually an important realisation about her sheltered life. She revealed that it was actually an example of the “awkward transitions” she’s made from living a “very, very structured life” from her child stardom day to suddenly being in charge of her day to day life after taking a break from the industry. “It’s been a discovery and a journey that’s been, I guess, humbling,” she concluded. “Because on a movie set, I’m able to do all of these extremely complex things: stunts, sing, dance or whatever. And I’m like, ‘Yup, don’t worry about it guys. No worries, I’ve got you.’” But beyond that, she joked that she was “unable to remember keys, wallet, keep myself at 30 miles an hour in a 30-mile speed limit.”

Emma Watson is looking for love on her own terms

When asked about marriage and relationships, Emma admitted that she’s done with the idea of a timeline: no rush, no rules, just choosing what feels right for her. In 2019, she revealed that she was single but coined it ‘self-partnered’ and it went super viral. This time, the actress didn’t reveal her status but did reveal that her ideal partner would be someone she can “learn from” and has “the humility” to learn from he too. “I guess my big hope or wish would be that I met someone who feels that what I’m here to do in the world is important to them too,” she told Jay Shetty.

“I’m just so happy not to be divorced yet,” she admitted, adding: “That sounds like a really negative answer but I think we’re being pressured and forced into this thing that I believe is a kind or miracle. I might never be worthy of it. “I hope it happens to me but I don’t feel entitled to it. It will either be part of purpose here and my destiny or it won’t,” the British starlet continued. “I think the way we treat it [marriage] as though ‘why haven’t you’ and ‘this is something that has to happen in this certain timespan is the least romantic thing I can think of.”