Emma Watson covers the April issue of Vanity Fair. It’s a lovely cover and interesting editorial, all to promote Emma’s Disney princess turn in Beauty and the Beast. I’ll admit it – I’ve never had strong feelings one way or the other about Emma. But over the past few years, I’ve found myself defending her more and more, and I came away from this interview with a newfound respect for her. She actually seems to practice what she preaches, and she’s not naively claiming to be “private” and then dishing details about her love life. She seems very conscientious and serious and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can read the full VF piece here. Some highlights:

Reading is “sacred” to Emma: “Books gave me a way to connect with my father. Some of my most precious and treasured moments . . .” She trails off and, unexpectedly for someone who is known for her composure, tears up. Her parents divorced when she was young. “I just remember him reading to me before bed and how he used to do all the different voices. I grew up on film sets, and books were my connection to the outside world. They were my connection to my friends back at school because if I was reading what they were reading we’d have something in common. Later in life, they became an escape, a means of empowerment, a friend I could rely on.”

She got tired of the Harry Potter life: “I’d walk down the red carpet and go into the bathroom. I had on so much makeup and these big, fluffy, full-on dresses. I’d put my hands on the sink and look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘Who is this?’ I didn’t connect with the person who was looking back at me, and that was a very unsettling feeling.”

She seriously considered giving up acting when she enrolled at Brown: “I was finding this fame thing was getting to a point of no return. I sensed if this was something I was ever going to step away from it was now or never.”

Why she kept acting: “I’ve been doing this since I was 10 or 11, and I’ve often thought, I’m so wrong for this job because I’m too serious; I’m a pain in the ass; I’m difficult; I don’t fit. But as I’ve got older, I’ve realized, No! Taking on those battles, the smaller ones and the bigger ones, is who I am.”

She no longer takes photos with fans: “For me, it’s the difference between being able to have a life and not. If someone takes a photograph of me and posts it, within two seconds they’ve created a marker of exactly where I am within 10 meters. They can see what I’m wearing and who I’m with. I just can’t give that tracking data… I’ll say, ‘I will sit here and answer every single Harry Potter fandom question you have but I just can’t do a picture’ ”—and much of the time people don’t bother. “I have to carefully pick and choose my moment to interact. When am I a celebrity sighting versus when am I going to make someone’s freakin’ week? Children I don’t say no to, for example.”

Dealing with the stalkers & creeps that come with Potterdom: “People will say to me, ‘Have you spoken to Jodie Foster or Natalie Portman? They would have great advice for you on how to grow up in the limelight.’ I’m not saying it was in any way easy on them, but with social media it’s a whole new world. They’ve both said technology has changed the game… Privacy for me is not an abstract idea.”

She won’t talk about her boyfriend: “I want to be consistent: I can’t talk about my boyfriend in an interview and then expect people not to take paparazzi pictures of me walking around outside my home. You can’t have it both ways…. I’ve noticed, in Hollywood, who you’re dating gets tied up into your film promotion and becomes part of the performance and the circus. I would hate anyone that I were with to feel like they were in any way part of a show or an act.”

She allegedly turned down the lead in La La Land: “There have been hard moments in my career when I’ve had an agent or a movie producer say, ‘You are making a big mistake.’ But what’s the point of achieving great success if you feel like you’re losing your freakin’ mind? I’ve had to say, ‘Guys, I need to go back to school,’ or ‘I just need to go home and hang out with my cats.’ People have looked at me and been like, ‘Is she insane?’ But, actually, it’s the opposite of insane.”

[From Vanity Fair]

There’s also a discussion about feminism as related to her work with the UN’s HeForShe program, her newfound friendships with bell hooks and Gloria Steinem, plus how she wanted a more feminist interpretation of the Beauty and the Beast story. As for the La La Land story, she doesn’t specifically confirm or deny the gossip that the role was originally intended for her and she turned it down. But man, if that’s true and she did turn it down… yeah, I kind of think she did make a mistake with that one.

Photos courtesy of Tim Walker/Vanity Fair.