Emma Watson explains why she took a break from acting

Emma Watson has broken her silence on why she has stopped acting.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remake star hasn’t appeared in any film projects since the release of Little Women in 2019 and has largely stayed out of the spotlight in that time — aside from an appearance in the Harry Potter reunion show in 2021.

In a new interview with the Financial Times, Emma explained that she’d started to feel constrained by her acting career before walking away.

“I think I felt a bit caged,” she said. “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.

“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.”

While she felt a break was necessary, Emma reiterated previous comments that she will return to the screen at some point.

“I’m happy to sit and wait for the next right thing,” she added. “I love what I do. It’s finding a way to do it where I don’t have to fracture myself into different faces and people.

“And I just don’t want to switch into robot mode anymore. Does that make sense?”

The actress made a brief return to screens last year as part of a charity Pickleball game, hosted by Stephen Colbert, to raise money for the US version of Comic Relief.

She has also travelled globally to advocate for fashion sustainability through her role as an ambassador and board member for Kering — the company that owns Balenciaga, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent.