Emma Watson Breaks Silence On Her Acting Hiatus, 6-Month Driving Ban, and Run-In With Rowling

"Emma Watson 2012 Shankbone" by David Shankbone is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

Ever since Emma Watson shot to stardom for the role of Hermione in the Harry Potter series, she has faced the trials and tribulations of fame. The talented and clever 35-year-old has had cameras shoved in her face, up her skirt (in a very disgraceful upskirting run-in with the press on her 18th birthday), and into the corners of her life that should’ve remained private and press-free. It’s no wonder, then, that the price of fame became too much for Watson in 2019. And one can definitely see why she decided to step away from the limelight and focus on a fame-free existence.

In the latest episode of Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, she says the “highly competitive environments” she was exposed to as an actress were “bone-breakingly painful” and she wasn’t thick-skinned enough to handle them. 

“It broke me,” she said tearfully. “In a way, I’m proud that it did because I guess that means I have something left to break. I have a heart left to break.”

Watson explained that one of the biggest challenges she faced was finding friendship when so many industry people were solely focused on their careers and not looking for bonds with their co-stars/castmates. 

Watson had walked onto sets expecting unspoken bonds because those kinds of bonds had been created through the decade-long filming of Harry Potter. She said she expected the same kind of community that had been built in the Potter universe, with actors and filmmakers respecting each other as friends and not just coworkers. 

Unfortunately for Watson, this expectation couldn’t be met, and she “got her ass kicked.”

“You always get asked when you’re promoting these big films, ‘So do you guys hang out on set and, like, are you all friends? And everyone sort of like nods enthusiastically. But the truth is no one has seen each other outside of work,” she said. 

She says, “ I think that’s the part that starts to feel icky after a while, is that you have to pretend that you’re all best friends.” 

The constant need to keep up appearances and live out her life as if part of a performance really started to get to her, making her feel disconnected from her true self.

In 2018, Watson wrapped up the filming of Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women and, in 2019, she wrapped up the movie’s promotional content and left acting to find herself again. 

She described her transition from notoriety to normality as difficult, saying that she was “unable to do some pretty basic life things,” as they were always done for her. She said driving herself places frequently was one of the things she was unable to do, as she was not insured to drive herself to and from work during her acting days. She said this could explain her “embarrassing” 6-month driving ban from July, as she didn’t have “the skills and experience” to drive solo. 

Watson also said her journey to finding herself had been humbling as well as enlightening, and that she may be able to do complex things on set, but basic life skills can still pass her by. 

“I get home and I’m like, ‘Ok, Emma, you seem unable to remember keys, money, or to like keep yourself at 30 miles an hour in a 30 mile speed limit,” she joked. 

Though outside of re-learning basic life skills, Watson is learning so much more. In 2023, she enrolled in a creative writing Master's course at Oxford University and, in February 2025, she switched from that Master's to a DPhil (Oxford’s version of a PhD). As part of her studies, she has written an impressive one-woman show that left Jay Shetty and her friends and family mesmerised. She has also learnt ways to practice what she has preached, admitting that being around optimistic younger people as part of her studies has been encouraging for her and her activism. 

Like her acting, her activism has been put on the back burner in recent years, but she has openly supported Palestine and the trans community.

When asked how she feels about Rowling and her anti-trans rhetoric, she was hesitant but eventually said she didn’t want to say anything that continued to weaponise a really toxic debate and conversation. She said she found the situation really painful and she hopes she can keep loving people she doesn’t share the same opinion with (J.K Rowling included). 

“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo (J.K. Rowling) and the person that I had personal experiences with,” she said. 

She said, “I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible.”