Emma Watson shot to global fame when she was just 10 years old, playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise.
She spent over a decade working on the eight films, and was 21 years old when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 arrived on screens in 2011.
Though her name is known all around the world, Emma, now 35, has stepped back from the spotlight in more recent years.
In fact, she has only just taken part in her first-ever podcast interview, appearing on the Jay Shetty Podcast for a rare on-screen appearance.
It was her first major interview in years, and she opened up about her decision to step back from acting and whether she’ll ever return to screen.
Scroll on for everything you need to know about the actress’s life since leaving Harry Potter.
Did Emma Watson quit acting?
Emma has not appeared in a major movie since 2019’s Little Women.
While she has filmed adverts for brands, including Prada’s Paradoxe perfume, she has not taken on any acting roles in the last six years.
Now, Emma has revealed that she stepped back from Hollywood because she felt like she had lost any work-life balance.
“I think I worked so hard for so long that my life sort of bottomed out. The bottom fell out of the piece, which was actually me and my life,” she told Hollywood Authentic.
“So I needed to go and do some construction work, some good foundations for anything else to grow from.
“Because if you don’t have that, there’s a kind of mania that ensues; a kind of panic where you move from one project to the next, kind of terrified of the void in between them.”
Will Emma Watson ever return to acting?
Emma hasn’t ruled out a return to the big screen, but admitted she doesn’t miss “selling things”.
“I think I’ll be honest and straightforward, and say: I do not miss selling things, I found that to be quite soul-destroying,” she told Hollywood Authentic.
“But I do very much miss using my skill set, and I very much miss the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed.”
She hasn’t ruled out working behind the camera either, but said she refuses to do anything that sacrifices her “peace” in life.
“If it costs me any part of my peace, it’s just too expensive,” she told Jay Shetty.
“There’s opportunities that I think, ‘wow, that would be amazing,’ and I care deeply about my work, but I think I used to completely sacrifice myself to whatever it was I was trying to achieve.
“That could be a grade, it could be a movie, it could be promoting. I was giving my all to everything and doing it to the best of my ability, and unless you have the right people around you that can hold that kind of level of commitment, you’re going to get smashed up. You’re going to get crushed.
“Now it’s a case of me saying, ‘OK, I know for me to do anything, I have to have people in the room that care about me more than whatever the product is.
“If that isn’t the case, I cannot be there because I’m just someone who gives their all, that’s how I’m built.”
What is Emma Watson doing now?
Emma now lives away from the spotlight in Oxford, where she owns a nine-bedroom mansion, according to the Daily Mail.
She also runs a gin company, Renais, with her brother Alex. The gin is created by distilling the alcohol sustainably from French wine grapes.
The siblings founded the company in 2023, and Emma’s most recent Instagram posts have been promoting their venture.
She has not posted on her social media page since November 2024, when she shared a series of posts about Renais.
In September 2023, Emma enrolled at Oxford University to study a Master’s degree in creative writing, but it is not known if she finished the course or if she is still studying there.
Generally, Emma keeps her private life away from the public eye.
Is Emma Watson in a relationship?
Emma hardly ever discusses her dating life in public, but made some rare comments in a new interview.
Speaking to Jay Shetty, Emma admitted she prefers dating people who have never seen any of her movies.
“It’s funny, occasionally people will apologize to me for the fact that they’ve not seen my films. And I will be like, ‘Please don’t apologize. That is bliss to me,” she said.
“Like, music to my ears that you’re not going to constantly be navigating it. And me also navigating with you this projection of me, or this Emma Watson avatar-person will not be this ghost in the room.”
She said it can feel “dehumanising” and “jarring” when she watches someone’s behaviour change after realising who she is.
However, she admitted she takes solace in the fact that dating is difficult for everyone, not just her.
Emma said she would like her partner to “appreciate” her work, but said they by no means have to have an in-depth understanding of her career.
She said she hopes to get married one day but doesn’t feel “entitled” to it or pressured to do so, saying she feels thankful she hasn’t been divorced yet.
Emma was most recently linked to fellow Oxford student, Kieran Brown, whom she was seen enjoying a date last year.
In July of this year, Emma was seen enjoying a picnic with another mystery man, but it is not known if she is currently seeing anyone new.
She previously dated Brandon Green, the son of business tycoon Sir Philip, but the couple went their separate ways in 2023.
What was Emma Watson diagnosed with?
Emma was reportedly diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when she was a child.
While she has never spoken openly about the condition, the ADHD Foundation confirmed her diagnosis in a post back in 2015.
Did Emma Watson want to quit Harry Potter?
Yes, Emma nearly quit the Harry Potter franchise midway through.
She struggled with the pressures of fame and felt trapped by the lengthy commitment, particularly while filming Order of the Phoenix.
In 2013, director David Heyman revealed that Emma had considered leaving to focus on school.
“Emma, in particular, was quite academic and was very keen in [the] pursuit of schooling and was wrestling a little bit more than the others,” he told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
“So each time there was a negotiation, it was not about a financial [matter], it really was about, ‘Do I want to be a part of this?’ We had to be sensitive to her needs and how important school was to her. And you have to listen.”
I deeply respected her, encouraged her. She’s very smart, always was, and fiercely intelligent,” he added.
However, she ultimately stayed on, with the support of the cast, and to fulfil fans’ wishes.
During the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special, Emma recalled how she had struggled with the pressures of filming.
“I think I was scared,” she told her co-star Rupert Grint. “I don’t know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, ‘This is kind of forever now.'”
Meanwhile, Tom Felton gushed of Emma’s work: “People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it.”
