Perhaps Emma Watson’s career took off more than she anticipated after the Harry Potter franchise drew to an end a few years ago. It all started with that Lancome sponsorship and then snowballed into several consecutive films — My Week with Marilyn, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bling Ring (which sounds like a bit of a disaster despite boasting Sofia Coppola as director), and Noah (the one with furry Russell Crowe) — that have slowed down Emma’s collegiate plans a bit. Apparently, Emma really misses university (as do I because it was like a vacation from life) and wants to put the brakes on her movie-making career for awhile while she heads back to Brown. She’s even planning on enrolling in classes for the spring 2013 semester. Really:

Hermione Granger is going back to school!

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson will return to Brown University in Providence, R.I., for the 2013 winter semester, her rep confirmed to Gossip Cop.

Watson, 22, was previously enrolled at the Ivy League college from September 2009 to March 2011, at which point she decided to take a short break from her studies to focus on her career and to promote the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise, which came out in July of that year.

“As you know, I love Brown and I love studying pretty much more than anything, but recently I’ve had so much to juggle that being a student AND fulfilling my other commitments has become a little impossible,” the Brit wrote on her blog at the time.

“I will still be working towards my degree,” she assured fans. “It’s just going to take me a semester or two longer than I thought.”

A few months later, the Perks of Being a Wallflower star announced that she would be spending her junior year abroad, at Oxford University. While there, she met fellow student Will Adamowicz, whom she has been dating since late 2011.

Watson had planned to return to Brown once she returned from her year in England, but she deferred again in August to take on a number of film projects, including the Sofia Coppola-directed flick Bling Ring and Noah, starring Russell Crowe as the biblical title character.

Now, however, it seems she’s ready to once again step out of the spotlight and into the crowd of co-eds at Brown.

“I’ve never even been asked for an autograph on campus,” she told the Sunday Times Magazine last year of her experience at the school. “I threw a party for nearly 100 students and not a single person put a photo on Facebook.”

[From Us Weekly]

If anything, I don’t question Emma’s delay in completing her undergraduate degree as much as the odd need her rep feels for announcing Emma’s every coming and going in regard to an educational institution. If I had her money and the opportunity to make a lot more of it, I’d probably take my time finishing up a degree too. Perhaps Emma just doesn’t want to pull a James Franco by concurrently enrolling at several universities and then deciding not to attend class (only to get a professor fired for handing out a well-deserved “D” grade). So yes, Emma is no James Franco, and she’s a lot cuter than him too.

Photos courtesty of WENN

Lourdes Leon is just about to celebrate her 16th birthday. How time flies, right? She turns 16 this week, which should be very exciting for her. I wonder if she’ll get her driver’s license? Probably not. Lola’s homebase is New York City, but she was also raised partially in London as well. Neither are big driving towns, so my guess is that she’ll probably wait another year or so to get her license. Anyway, like many girls at this age, Lola thinks her mom is crazy, and Lola is bristling against her mom’s oppressive, Draconian rules. So Lola is counting the days until she gets the hell out. But her mother is Madonna: the rules Lola’s mom imposes are probably a lot different than the rules most mothers-of-teenagers impose, you know? Which means that Lola’s teenage angst and need to rebel looks decided different than most. According to The Mail, Lola wants to rebel against her mom by… going to college. And paying for college by herself.

Little girls grow up fast. Madonna’s firstborn daughter, Lourdes, is preparing the leave her mother’s nest and live on her own.

The 16-year-old girl is said to be planning her escape to the performing arts school Bard College outside of New York to flee from her mother’s strict rules, and she plans on paying for it herself. Lourdes is said to be fed up with her mother’s strict parenting rules, and her rebellious nature now sees her planning to leave home.

And the young girl is so desperate to be independent, she wants to pay her own way through college, The Sun reports.

Lourdes has teamed up with her mother to create the teenage clothing line Material Girl, and will presumably use the money she earned through that to pay the expensive college fees.

A source has said: ‘Lourdes can’t wait to leave home and get to university. She’s already planned it all. She’s also fed up being in the spotlight. That’s why she didn’t go on stage during Madonna’s tour.’

The oldest offspring of Madonna, 54, will leave her three siblings behind, Rocco, 12, David Banda, 7, and Mercy James, 6.

[From The Mail]

Believe it or not, I think Lola is a very smart girl, and I do think Madge put a lot of focus on Lola’s education – didn’t Lola go to Lycee Francais schools? Which are the same schools that a lot of diplomats’ children attend, and the curriculum is very focused more on university-preparedness. It’s not unheard of for someone to graduate from those schools at the age of 16, and Bard College would probably be a good fit for Lourdes too. So… more power to her, I guess. I just think it’s funny that Lola’s rebellion is “I’m going to finish my fancy Lycee school and go to a really good liberal arts college and I’m going to pay for it myself. GAWD, MOM.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

I guess this news is inevitable, but it still makes me sad. First of all, Kylie and Kendall Jenner aren’t scrapping high school entirely, like Paris Hilton (Paris has her GED now at least), they’re going to be homeschooled. Some of our favorite reality show-based sites, like Starcasm and Reality Tea, are phrasing it like they’re dropping out, and they pretty much are dropping out of attending a school but it’s not like they’re not going to finish high school – that we know of. A lot of Hollywood kids get homeschooled, and it’s a viable alternative to school in any situation, I don’t want to knock homeschooling at all. Given their mother’s priorities, do you think that education is valued in that household? At least Kourtney and Rob have their college degrees. (Rob said he was going to law school this year, but he lied, apparently.) So maybe it’s not that bad. Khloe was homeschooled too.

Here’s the story from Starcasm. They also point us to an interview these two gave last year in which the girls said that they loved going to school and that it grounded them somewhat. So much for that. Kylie is 15 and Kendall is 16.

The two youngest Kardashians Jenners, have stopped attending high school so they can have more time to develop their brands. They will still be home schooled, so don’t worry about them not learning trigonometry.

Kylie (15) and Kendall (16) Jenner won’t be attending Sierra Canyon High School this year so they can do fab magazine spreads and Kendall can pursue acting with a role on Hawaii 5-0. Not only that, but the two girls are getting bigger and bigger storylines on their family’s “reality” show.

Last year the girls talked to Celebuzz about how much they liked going to school because it helped separate them from their celeb lives, but it looks like they’ve now changed their feelings.

Last year:
Kylie: If we didn’t go to school it would be hard, but school brings us back.
Kendall: And we love going to school! We really do. We love being able to have that aspect still in our lives. It’s like being Hannah Montana and living two lives! We love it, and we love being able to have our friends. It is a little weird sometimes, especially when they come up to us, like our friends at school don’t expect us to be like that.

The teenage girls’ issues with school was the subject of a recent KUWTK episode when Kylie admitted that school felt overwhelming and gave her panic attacks. They talked with their parents about letting them quit school and learn at home at their own pace, and now it looks like that’s exactly what’s happening. Kendall even tweeted about being homeschooled this July, but has since deleted the tweet.

[From Starcasm]

I guess it makes sense if Kylie gets panic attacks from school, and it seems like the right thing to do in her case. I don’t know why I care so much about these two. Maybe because they seem like they’re not lost causes yet, like they might choose a life for themselves that doesn’t involve the family business of packaging and selling every detail of their personal lives. They’re working as models, starring on a reality show and making bank from a very young age, so it’s not like this is a difficult choice for them.

Last year, I was increasingly disturbed by Emma Watson’s ever-changing story about her university studies. I was yelled at, often and vigorously, but I still think my point stands: Emma took time off from Brown University because she wanted to work, model and party. It’s not against the law – it’s her choice. But don’t ask me to buy an image of Emma as some Natalie Portman-type who is studious and intellectually industrious. I had to eat some of my criticisms of Emma when she did end up “transferring” from Brown to Oxford last fall. I had hoped that this would be the end of the whole “Is she a young woman who prioritizes her education, or is she just interested in working?” debate. Except the transfer didn’t last long – these are photos of Emma arriving in LA a few days ago, where she has just started work on Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring:

Emma Watson has been lined up to star in Sofia Coppola’s new film The Bling Ring.
Variety said that Sofia would write and direct the movie, the true story of a group of teenagers who commit a string of celebrity burglaries.

“I’m excited about the young cast we’re assembling and I’m looking forward to shooting on location here in Los Angeles,” the Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette director said.

Harry Potter star Emma last year started her first term at Oxford University, after quitting America’s Brown University.

She recently starred in My Week With Marilyn and is set to appear with Paul Rudd in Perks Of Being A Wallflower.

The actress will be following in the footsteps of Scarlett Johansson in Lost In Translation and Somewhere’s Elle Fanning, who broke into more adult material with Coppola films.

[From The Press Association]

The opportunity for a young actress to work with Sofia Coppola… well, I understand Emma’s choice. Totally. When that call comes in, you take it. But I fear we’ll be seeing another round of interviews from Emma about how she’s just too much of a perfectionist to go to school AND work. Maybe Emma will go back to school after this. Or maybe she’ll just stop trying to make everything work perfectly.

You can see some photos of Emma in character in Calabasas here. Sofia gave Emma long extensions. Is Emma playing the main girl in The Bling Ring, the ringleader? Because from what I remember of that girl, she looked really, really trashy and very “LA”. Emma needs a fake-tan, more makeup and some glitter or something.

UPDATE: Thanks to the people pointing out that Oxford has a different semester-schedule than American universities. Maybe Emma is on a break right now, and I believe that she’s “deferring” her next semester too. But that’s what she said about Brown University too, and that ended up being months until she finally transferred to Oxford.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

Back in August, Emma Roberts confirmed to Just Jared that she was giving up Hollywood for college. Sarah Lawrence College, to be exact – Sarah Lawrence is totally elite and private and a lot of really cool ladies have graduated from SLC. So I was happy for Emma! I generally think she’s a smug little brat, but I appreciated that she was at least attempting to get some experiences that didn’t involve red carpets, shopping and talking about her Aunt Julia. However, I also ended my post with “Anyway, what are the odds Emma is just doing this to look brainy and intellectual and then she’ll be out of there as soon as she’s offered some parts?” Yep. I was right. Emma is “deferring” SLC after one whole semester.

Sarah Lawrence College will be without its most famous co-ed this semester — Emma Roberts is deferring.

“She is taking time off to shoot two films,” Roberts’ rep tells Us Weekly.

The Scream 4 star and English lit major began her freshman year in September 2011.

When Us spoke to Roberts in November, the 20-year-old actress admitted she struggled to balance her busy schedule.

“It’s a lot,” Roberts admitted. “It’s more the traveling that’s the hard part, the going back and forth. I was just in L.A. and now I’m here in New York, and now I have to go back to L.A.”

What made Roberts decide to pursue higher education? “I just wanted to get away from everything for awhile and try something new, explore some other stuff,” she said.

Roberts — who’s still dating Glee’s Chord Overstreet — is slated to begin filming Spring Break (opposite Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and James Franco) in early March.

[From Us Weekly]

Well, she put in a good effort? No, I can’t even say that. One semester isn’t a “good effort.” She was there, at most, from mid-August to mid-December. I bet she’s been on film sets longer than that. Here’s an honest question I have about Young Hollywood: do any of them understand the value of taking time out from the Hollywood Race to actually go have some “normal” experiences for several years? I get that they’re told (by their agents, by casting directors, by the voices inside their heads) that if they leave for a year, no one will remember them. But here’s another voice – it’s not like any of these young actors are turning in award-worthy work, you know? It’s not like they’re “deferring” college to do important films. Maybe the Fanning sisters. MAYBE. Other than that, it’s just a bunch of, like, Disney kids who don’t want to leave the party.

PS… As I was looking through the photos we have of Emma, I noticed the strangest thing – she was, like, never in school last semester. She was photographed at parties, shopping, fashion shows, medical appointments, getting juice or coffee, all in Manhattan and LA. Dear Emma: All of this crap will still be there after you finish school.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I’m eating my words, happily. Go ahead and tell me I’m full of it, that I’m a lying liar made of lies, soaking in a bath full of lies and eating lie tiramisu and drinking lie-filled Chardonnay. As it turns out, I was wrong about Emma Watson. And I’m thrilled that I was wrong about her. In the Spring of this year, Emma announced that she was going to be “taking a break” from university – she was finishing up her second year at Brown, and I believe that she didn’t complete her Spring semester, because she got work from Lancome and she went to shoot a movie. I was very suspicious of Emma’s decision to “take a break” because A) Her story kept changing and B) She seemed more concerned with partying and having fun, all while maintaining her “good, studious girl” persona.

Then, a few months ago, Emma’s story changed once again, and suddenly she was no longer taking a break, but she was “transferring” or doing a semester or a year abroad at Oxford. I was suspicious of that too, and I figured that we would eventually get an announcement that Emma had decided to “study abroad” too late, and that there was a paperwork mix-up and she never did enroll in Oxford. But I was wrong! Mea culpa. She’s actually at Oxford right now! She sent a message to her fans on her blog:

To Everyone who is starting a New School Year, (sorry those who have been at school for a while Oxford starts late)

Just to say have a great term and good luck with all your work.

You might not hear from me for a while because I will be really busy studying but I wanted to just say hi and bye : )

Hope you all like ‘My Week with Marilyn’ and i’ll keep you posted on ‘Perks’.

Love Emma xx

[From Emma’s Blog]

Should I eat sh-t some more? I’m sorry. All of you Emma-defenders were right! She’s a good girl. She’s studious. She takes her education seriously. I was wrong to question her. (Was I? Meh.)

Photos courtesy of WENN & Emma’s blog.

There are celebrities that Kaiser doesn’t like that I find relatively harmless, but I inevitably end up totally getting why she dislikes them. See: Jennifer Garner’s comments on motherhood, Amanda Seyfried saying her legs will never get fat, and now Kristen Stewart claiming that her teachers failed her by not preparing more work for her while she was off being a child actress. Yes, it was all her teachers’ fault for not doing more for her when her parents made her work as a small child. This is very similar to what Leah Michele said how her teachers were “too threatened by her to teach her anything.” At least Kristen didn’t call her teachers jealous, they were just lazy for not bending over backwards to accommodate her!

Actress Kristen Stewart has lashed out at her former teachers, insisting they “failed” to support her while she was away from class on acting jobs.

The Twilight star began performing when she was just eight years old, and balanced work with attending school before deciding to drop out of mainstream education in the seventh grade when she was in her early teens.

And Stewart tells Britain’s GQ magazine she felt forced to have home schooling because her teachers refused to help her catch up when she was working on location.

“School became genuinely uncomfortable,” she says.

“I was feeling a little self-conscious about the acting thing with my peers, but also my teachers became a problem. They didn’t want to do the extra work or put packages together so I could keep up while away.

“They failed me. My teachers failed me. Not one, but all of them. I’m always slightly ashamed in a way, about what I do. I’m slightly embarrassed as I had such serious ambitions when I was younger, I just never imagined that I would ever have a reason not go to school. But then this happened.”

[From The Age, via Film Drunk, ONTD]

Obviously this chick has some real issues that go back to her childhood. Instead of realizing that her parents had pushed her into acting when she should have been in the third grade, she’s blaming a bunch of teachers that had 20 plus other kids to teach who actually came to class. She doesn’t get that she was earning money and her parents could have hired her a tutor and/or personally put the work in to make sure she kept up with her peers. The mind boggles that anyone could be this clueless and entitled. I guess now that we know that she was made to work at a young age and that no one looked out for her education, it makes sense.

I tend to think Emma Roberts is an entitled, smug little brat, but I keep holding out hope that she will eventually do some growing up, stop relying on nepotism, and begin to carve out her own identity separate from her Aunt Julia, and separate from Young, Privileged, Entitled Hollywood. Have my prayers just been answered? Emma confirms to Just Jared that she is currently headed to Sarah Lawrence College for her freshman year. She’s 20 – most incoming freshmen are still 18, right? I was 17 when I matriculated. Anyway, maybe Emma just wasn’t “happening” in Hollywood, or maybe she (gasp) actually wants to learn something beyond ordering lattes and shopping. I think she should be applauded.

Emma Roberts is hitting the books this fall. The 20-year-old Scream 4 actress (currently dating ex-Glee star Chord Overstreet) will begin her freshman year at Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville, New York when classes begin September 5.

“I’m leaving for New York tomorrow to attend my very first semester of college,” she exclusively told JustJared.com on Sunday night. “I’m studying English literature and couldn’t be more excited!”

Famous Sarah Lawrence alums include Barbara Walters, Tea Leoni, Julianna Margulies, Holly Robinson Peete, Elisabeth Rohm, Kyra Sedgwick, Carly Simon, Yoko Ono, Vera Wang, Eric Mabius, Larisa Oleynik, Carrie Fisher, Robin Givens, Lauren Holly and the late Jill Clayburgh.

[From Just Jared & Us Weekly]

Jesus, I didn’t know all of those chicks went to Sarah Lawrence! I had a friend who was desperate to go there back in the day – I think she did get in, but then she found out how much it was going to cost (Sarah Lawrence is private). She didn’t end up going.

Anyway, what are the odds Emma is just doing this to look brainy and intellectual and then she’ll be out of there as soon as she’s offered some parts? *coughcoughEmmaWatsoncough*

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Matt Damon took part in a Save Our Schools march and rally on Washington on Saturday for teachers’ rights. Damon’s mother, a former teacher, was at the event along with his former high school history teacher. The famous actor rallied the crowd with a speech praising teachers for shaping his life and outlook. Save Our Schools is calling for teacher empowerment and grassroots support to help end the practice of tying school funding and teacher salaries to standardized testing. Damon made many thoughtful comments about the cause:

Matt Damon dedicated his Saturday to a cause close to his heart, rallying with teachers on a march to The White House.

The Bourne Identity star, whose mother was a teacher, joined the Save Our Schools March to protest the use of standardized testing throughout the education system.

In a touching speech to the amassed crowd, Damon, 40, discussed how he feels his own public school education impacted his life.

“As I look at my life today, the things that I value about myself, my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity, came from the way that I was parented and taught,” Damon told the crowd as the sun beat down on his head, shaved bald for his next role.

“And none of these qualities that I just mentioned, none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, none of these qualities that have brought me so much joy, that have made me so successful professionally, none of these qualities that make me who I am can be tested,” he said.

“Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.”

Damon also voiced support of all the educators throughout the United States.

“We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back,” he said.

[From Radar Online]

Both of my parents are retired teachers, and I admire the work that educators do and know a little about it. It’s a tough job for low pay and there’s a ton of bureaucracy to deal with. I’ve been out of the loop since they retired, but it sounds like it’s even worse now with these new federal policies. It’s heartening to see Damon lend his celebrity to this cause and you can tell that it’s one he cares about deeply.

Damon has been sporting a bald head for a little over a week. He shaved it for a role in a science fiction film called Elysium, which he’s been filming in Vancouver. It also stars Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley. As Lainey points out we’ll be seeing plenty more of Matt this year. He has two films coming out: Contagion in September and We Bought a Zoo in December. I always love to see him on the big screen, with hair or without. (I much prefer with, but I’m not going to be picky.)

I love this picture of him spraying sunscreen on his head.

photo credit: Fame Pictures

On Friday, Bedhead wrote about the rumors that Emma Watson was “taking a break” from Brown University because of “bullying.” The rumors seemed to be completely made up – but they did add another layer onto (what I perceive as) the sketchiness surrounding Emma’s decision to “take a break.” First of all, it just seemed like Emma wasn’t so much “taking a break” as dropping out. Second, it seemed like she was dropping out for what I thought were the WRONG reasons – partying, clubbing with Harvey Weinstein, and “modeling”. While I do believe that it’s her life, her decisions, it seemed as if Emma is more concerned with still being perceived as the good girl, the smart girl, rather than a party girl who got tired of studying and decided to blow off college to have fun. She wants to have her cake and eat it too, PR-wise. And many of you have played along, defending her choices and yelling at me because I deem her moves Lohan-esque. Anyway, here’s Emma’s new story: she’s not just “taking a break” from Brown. She’s “transferring.” Hm…

A spokeswoman for Harry Potter star Emma Watson says she will be transferring from Brown University to another university in the autumn.

Vanessa Davies denied reports that the 21-year-old actress was “bullied out” of the Rhode Island university, saying there was no truth in reports by a number of online publications who cited classmates and “insiders”.

Davies said Saturday that Watson, who plays Hermione in the wizard movie series, has decided to pursue a different course not offered at Brown.

She added that the star “has absolutely loved her time at Brown” and made many good friends there.

Watson has recently taken time out of her studies to focus on her movie career. She has said that her first days in college were difficult.

Davies did not identify the university Watson will be transferring to.

[From The New York Times]

UCLA or NYU? It would have to be an industry town, better for partying. Or maybe she won’t even end up bothering to “transfer” and her publicist will just release yet another statement in August stating that Emma’s “paperwork” got messed up and she’s going to spend another year “exploring her options.” Honestly, I really hope I’m wrong on this one. If I am, I’ll eat it with pleasure.

Photos courtesy of WENN.