Emma Watson hasn’t graced the big screen since Greta Gerwig’s Little Women in 2019, and while she misses acting, she doesn’t miss the grueling “soul-destroying” process of promoting her films.
“In some ways I really won the lottery with acting; what happened to me is so unusual,” Watson told Hollywood Authentic in a recent interview. “But a bigger component than the actual job itself is promoting and selling that piece of art. That balance can get quite thrown off. I’ll be honest—I do not miss selling things. I found that soul-destroying.”
She does, however, deeply miss the craft itself. “I very much miss using my skill set and the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed,” she said, recalling how brief rehearsal periods often are. “The moment you talk through a scene, prepare, and think about how you want to do something—then the camera rolls—it’s such an intense form of meditation. You can’t be anywhere else. It’s so freeing. I miss that profoundly, but I don’t miss the pressure.”
Though Watson is taking a break from acting, she teased working on something new and unprecedented for her.
“I’m maybe the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been,” she shared. She reflected on the exhausting nature of maintaining a public persona as an actor. “There’s a tendency to fracture yourself into multiple identities—not just your roles, but your public image, which requires constant maintenance. Shedding those identities has freed up space for me to be a better sister, daughter, friend, granddaughter, and artist. And someone trying to think critically for herself.”
Watson’s break from Hollywood seems to have allowed her to reclaim her personal life and creative freedom, prioritizing mental health and authenticity over the pressures of fame.
