Emma Watson reveals the real reason why she stepped back from acting for five years

Emma Watson recently opened up to reveal the reason why she’s taken a five-year hiatus from acting since 2018′s ‘Little Women.’

The ‘Harry Potter’ star explains that despite her love of acting, she finds it difficult to deal with the critics, but plans to return to acting when the right project comes her way.

Feeling caged

“I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest,” Watson told the Financial Times.

“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,” she explained.

“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.”

She continued to say that she found it frustrating to be held accountable for things she had no control over.

“And I started to realize 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.’”

Following her success as Hermione Granger in all eight ‘Harry Potter’ movie adaptations of the book series, Watson starred in ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower, ‘The Bling Ring’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘The Circle’ and ‘Little Women’.

And despite her misgivings about the movie industry, she isn’t saying goodbye forever and is excited to come back.

“Yes, absolutely. But I’m happy to sit and wait for the next right thing. 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?”

What has Emma Watson been doing in her hiatus?

During her time away from acting, Watson has been busy writing and directing for different projects.

Last year, the actress made her writing and directorial debut for Prada’s Paradoxe fragrance ad campaign, in which she also starred.

“People always told me I should direct and produce, even when I was on Potter,” she said on pursuing movie ventures outside of acting.

“I was worried it was just technical, not creative and I couldn’t bring what I think is probably my skill set. Being a director seemed unattainable. I don’t think I had any confidence in that. I know it seems weird. I mean, I grew up on a film set.”

In her interview, she also teased that she’s directing a music video for someone “you will definitely have heard [of].”