when emma watson “grew up” ⚡️

when emma watson “grew up” ⚡️

Emma Watson versus the media. Thrown into stardom almost overnight, Emma Watson has spent most of her life in the public eye. And through it all, the world has never stopped watching and judging her every move. While she’s often cited as a shining example of beating the child star curse, she’s still had her fair share of controversies, most of which center around her appearance, acting, and political activism. In today’s video, we’re going to be taking a look at Emma Watson’s career and public image. From her magical days as a child actor to her divisive turn as a Disney princess to her current characterization as a whiny feminist. Let’s get into it. Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone was first published in the UK in June 1997 where it was instantly a hit with children. And by the following year, the book had not only received a US release, but was followed up with a similarly successful sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. By 1999, the first three installments of Harry Potter had sold over 35 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books in the world. And it’s no surprise that Hollywood soon came a knocking. In December of that year, Warner Brothers announced that they had purchased the rights to the first four books in the series for just over a million pounds with plans to begin filming the following year in the UK. As part of the deal, series author JK Rowling was given an almost unheard of level of creative control, including final script approval and a demand that the entire cast be British. While this made sense considering the series setting, it also made casting a lot trickier. As one of the most popular books in the world, there was a lot of pressure to live up to fans expectations, and the production decided that their best bet was to hire unknowns. They held open auditions for the three leads, asking British children aged 9 to 11, who resembled Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, or Hermione Granger, to send in a video telling a joke and reading a passage from the book. Thousands of submissions poured in. But after months without a clear front runner, casting directors expanded their search to primary schools across the UK. That’s where they found 9-year-old Emma Watson. Born on April 15th, 1990 in Paris, France, Emma moved to England at the age of 5 following her parents’ divorce. From a very early age, she knew she wanted to be a performer and began attending a local theater school where she studied singing, dancing, acting, the works. Her teachers were so impressed with her talents that when they were invited to submit a group of students for Hermione Granger, they pushed Emma to audition. Despite never acting professionally, Emma was determined to land the part. And after eight different rounds of auditions where she tested with a variety of Harry’s and Rons, she got the job. Almost every child in the country had auditioned for a role in Harry Potter. But when director Chris Columbus saw Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson together, he knew they were his golden trio. Each of the young actors had something in common with their fictional counterparts, Emma especially, who was described as quote incredibly bright, incredibly confident, and very much the smartest person in the room, just like Hermione. And these similarities to the character would become a key part of her public persona in the years to come. When casting was announced on August 21st, 2000, it sent the British media into a frenzy. For their privacy and safety, the kids and their families were moved into a hotel. But thankfully, a mere month later, filming commenced in a hidden location. The production attempted to make the lives of their young actors as normal as possible, and Emma, Daniel, and Rupert would divide their time between shooting and studying. And because they were surrounded by hundreds of kids their own age and kept far away from the paparazzi, in a way, it felt like they were really attending Hogwarts. Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone premiered on November 16th, 2001. And the kids were sent on a press tour to promote it, which was quite a lot of responsibility for a group of 11year-olds. They were asked pretty basic questions. Did they have fun on set? What were they going to do with the money? How did they relate to the characters? Many interviewers noted that Emma handled herself extremely well, showing a level of poise and charm far beyond her years, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to take the lead when paired up with Rupert and Dan, who were a touch more soft-spoken. Because of how popular the books were, people were confident that the film would perform well. But it shattered those expectations, becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year and catapulting its young cast to stardom. But the kids didn’t have time to enjoy their newfound fame as just a few days after the movie was released, they were whisked back to the UK to begin shooting the sequel. This schedule helped keep them grounded with the film’s producer, David Haymon, saying, quote, “They’re not like stage kids at all. They don’t behave like stars, and we don’t treat them as such.” Daniel Radcliffe reiterated the sentiment. Quote, “Kids stars in America are treated like stars first and kids second. But in England, you’re just treated like a kid. You’re always being told, “Don’t get too big for your boots.” Having spent months of their lives together, the Harry Potter cast often described themselves as a sort of family. With Hogwarts serving as a home away from home, the media leaned into this narrative, framing the trio as being as close in real life as they were on screen. This merged them into a single pop culture figure, one that audiences felt incredibly attached to, fueling a parasocial relationship that was destined to backfire. Although things were peaceful on set, once they left Hogwarts, any semblance of privacy disappeared, which the kids found rather disorienting. Emma would say, quote, “People stop me in the street everywhere. You’re kind of being watched all the time. Most people are really nice, but some stare like you’re some kind of zoo exhibit and not a real person with real feelings.” They followed a pretty strict routine over the next few years. They’d film, then they’d go back to school, then they’d go on a press tour, then go back to filming. But by the time Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released in 2005, the trio were no longer kids, but full-blown teenagers, and the media coverage shifted in response. Because they were the same age as the characters they played, many wondered if the actors were following similar stages of adolescence. How did Daniel feel about being a teen heartthrob? Was Rupert dating anyone? What were Emma’s fashion tips? The conversation was no longer centered around Harry Potter, but their individual identities and experiences. The Goblet of Fire was notable for Hermione’s character as it was the first time she was depicted as a romantic interest, an evolution that Emma was pretty nervous about, saying in an interview, quote, “Hermione is supposed to become beautiful, and like a lot of girls my age, I’ve become very self-conscious about things like that.” From the time she’d been cast in the series, comments had been directed at Emma’s appearance and how she was too pretty to play the bushy-haired bucktooth Brainiac. But now being pretty was part of her job. Something that wasn’t expected of her male co-stars. And with the films beginning to see Hermione in a different light, so did audiences. At the same time, Emma began exploring fashion, stepping out in brands like Chanel and Alexander McQueen, sitting front row at fashion week, gracing the covers of hundreds of magazines, and eventually becoming the face of Burberry. This created a separation between her and the Harry Potter series with Emma even saying, quote, “Fashion’s great because you’re able to recreate yourself whenever you want. My way of getting casting directors to look at me in a slightly different way was modeling.” Throughout her youth, Emma was able to avoid the usual pitfalls of child stardom. She never had an inappropriately older boyfriend. She wasn’t pictured partying all night at the club, and no explicit images of her were leaked. Whether done intentionally or because of the family-friendly franchise she was affiliated with, she was positioned as a positive role model. But when you’re that high up on a pedestal, there’s nowhere else to go but down. And as Emma entered adulthood, her relationship with the press soured. As she got older, articles began commenting on her physical appearance and personal life more and more frequently. and she just couldn’t get away from the comments talking about how much she had grown up. Everyone gets older. It’s a part of life. But the level of excitement that the public had towards Emma’s coming of age was rather disturbing. Multiple news outlets rank countdowns to Emma’s 18th birthday, which is a bizarrely common occurrence for actresses who rose to fame in their youth. I’m not sure if the practice is supposed to be complimentary, but it just feels creepy. And by constantly talking about the day that she would be legal to sleep with, thousands of men were admitting that they had already considered the idea when she was still a minor, making it clear that instead of morals or ethics keeping them from pursuing teenagers, it was just the law. This all came to a head on Emma’s 18th birthday in 2008. What should have been a fun night of celebrations with her friends and family turned into a paparazzi feeding frenzy. As she exited the party, she was met with photographers laying down on the pavement and angling their cameras specifically to take photos up her skirt. And by the next morning, those pictures had made their way onto the covers of several magazines. Reflecting on the incident a year later, Emma said, quote, “I realized that overnight I’d become fair game. The night it was legal for them to do it, they did it. I woke up the next day and felt completely violated by it all.” It was a crystal clear example of the industry being all too willing to exploit young women under the guise of entertainment. And it’s actually sad to see how on her following birthday, she was completely covered up. Thankfully, in 2019, upskirt photos were criminalized in all of the United Kingdom. But why it took so long is beyond me. While playing Hermione Granger, Emma had been contractually obligated to keep her hair long. But when filming of the series concluded in 2010, she decided to chop off her famous locks in favor of a pixie cut. Because Emma’s personal life didn’t offer much when it came to drama, the press had a habit of focusing on her appearance instead. And something as innocuous as a haircut became a lightning rod for scrutiny. While I always thought that the hairstyle was quite chic, in the media, it was much more divisive with Emma even saying that this act of autonomy had resulted in wild assumptions about her sexuality. quote, “I had journalists asking me if this meant I was coming out, if I was a lesbian.” Now, the haircut made me realize how subjective everyone’s opinion is. Some people were crazy for it, and some people just thought I’d lost my Like most of her Harry Potter co-stars, Emma didn’t have time for other projects while filming the series, and the only unrelated movies she’d been involved with were Ballet Shoes in 2007 and The Tale of Despero in 2008. Now that she was free of that obligation, the public wondered what she would get up to next. And she quickly made the transition to more adult roles. First with a small part in My Week with Marilyn in 2011 before landing a lead role in the 2012 coming of age film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This marked Emma’s first time in her decade long career where she played an American. And apart from the accent change, critics applauded how different the character was from Hermione. Her next role was in Sophia Copela’s 2013 film The Bling Ring, where she played a promiscuous, vapid, and superficial valley girl. In other words, the perfect character to show her range while still being relatively tame compared to other child actors transitional roles. This relatively cleancut direction was something she was very mindful of, saying, quote, “I’m not going to get my kid off or snort cocaine in a film just to leave Hermione behind. I’m not going to do something shocking because I’m so paranoid or insecure that I can’t play another role convincingly. Unfortunately, critics response to the bling ring was mixed at best, with some saying that Emma came across like a one-dimensional caricature of the person her character took inspiration from, and people started to wonder if she could actually act. Come on, let’s go to Paris’s. I want to rob. In 2014, she was in Noah. Although I’d argue that her character doesn’t serve much of a purpose narratively besides being a baby maker. But despite being banned in several Muslim countries, it was a financial success. Her next two projects, Colonia and Regression, were both critical and commercial failures. And as the lead character, it had people questioning her bankability. Colonia also sparked controversy because of the romantic elements, which Emma was frustrated by. Quote, “I’m 25 now. I’ve been in 15 films in total, and me kissing somebody else shouldn’t be risque or horrifying. She had a point, especially considering the press was totally fine with objectifying her against her wishes, but god forbid she willingly choose to play a character who has sex. In 2011, Emma had been attached to GMO del Toro’s adaptation of Beauty and the Beast for Warner Brothers. But when that project fell through, Disney came calling. Following the success of Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland, Disney had looked at the rest of their back catalog for liveaction inspiration and decided that the 1991 animated musical was ripe for the picking. Alan Horn, who had been president of Warner Brothers during their Harry Potter days and had recently made the switch over to Walt Disney Studios, insisted that Belle be played by Emma. Besides having an undeniable physical resemblance to the character, audiences had seen Emma play the bookworm type before, and so they were sold on her casting fairly quickly. No boycotss or think pieces like some of Disney’s more recent princesses. At the time, Disney’s live action remakes were still a fresh concept, so anticipation for Beauty and the Beast was sky-high, but that excitement quickly gave way to disappointment when the film was released in 2017. Emma had taken singing lessons since she was a child. And in the rare snippets of her singing live, it’s apparent that she can hold a tune. Considering the original character was voiced by a literal Broadway legend, no one expected Emma to out sing her. But the final product left a lot of people wanting more. Something that many reviews couldn’t help but point out. But the bigger issue that audiences had with the film was Belle herself, who seemed to have been given the girl boss treatment like many female characters in the 2010s. Emma Watson had been an outspoken feminist for years, identifying as such as early as 2007 and saying, quote, “There are too many stupid girls in the media.” I think sometimes really smart girls dumb themselves down a bit, and that’s bad. But in the 2010s, she’d upped this activism exponentially after being appointed the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helping launch the Heor for She campaign, which was an invitation for men to stand in solidarity with women for gender equality. This was actually one of the reasons she was cast in Beauty and the Beast in the first place with Shawn Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios, saying, quote, “We knew we wanted Belle to be a more empowered character, an ambitious, innovative version of the 91 film.” Emma embodied those things in her own life, and it showed in her performance. Considering the suits at Disney tend to have final say, I question how much involvement Emma actually had in this feminist direction of the character. But throughout the film’s press run, she was often cited as the reason for certain creative choices, making her the prime target of people’s displeasure. Even the direction of the film’s costumes were attributed to her, with Emma allegedly requesting that they not use corsets because she didn’t want to represent a quote impossible idea of female beauty. Some praised this as an empowering choice, while others felt it was a superficial decision that diminished the character’s visual legacy. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love the yellow dress either, but I’m hesitant to pin all of the blame on its shortcomings on Emma. It’s important to remember that Disney is first and foremost a brand, and the princesses are some of their most profitable IP. When it comes to things like Belle’s liveaction dress, something that was going to be sold on a large scale, Disney would dictate the design of it. And if they wanted a corset, they would have gotten one. What I think is far more likely to have happened is that following the backlash Illy James received in 2015 for her teeny tiny corseted waist, Disney overcorrected. And because the brand hates taking responsibility for their actions, it was all too easy to say the idea came from their outspoken actress. For Disney’s previous liveaction princesses like Cinderella and Aurora, they weren’t trying to rewrite the characters personalities for 21st century audiences. This made it a lot easier for Lily James and El Fanning during the press tour as they could just focus on how the role was a childhood dream, the romantic happy ending, and the character’s kindness and beauty. Talking points that are a lot more palatable for mainstream audiences. But because so much of Beauty and the Beast marketing was about making Belle an active heroine and not a passive princess, that was all Emma was asked about. People questioned why politics were being brought into a Disney movie. And although their intention might have been to make Belle more independent and inspiring, it just made her polarizing. In spite of this backlash, Beauty and the Beast was a smash hit that brought in over a billion dollars. But Emma’s reputation was in the gutter. Being a feminist was incredibly stigmatized at the time. I mean, it still is. And the fact that Emma continued to identify as such, regardless of the hate she received, just riled people up more. And like many actresses before her, she was labeled as difficult and pretentious simply for criticizing a system she had experienced firsthand. And as if needing a break from all this negativity, Emma stepped out of the spotlight. And 2019’s Little Women has been her last major acting role. Even though it’s been nearly 30 years since she was first cast as Hermione Granger, Emma can’t quite shake the Harry Potter associations, something that’s become increasingly complicated over the years because of JK Rowling. For anyone out of the loop, the author has made her transphobic viewpoints very apparent in recent years, resulting in heavy criticism from LGBTQ organizations and the Harry Potter fandom, who have requested a boycott of any content relating to the franchise. Several people affiliated with the series have spoken out against rolling statements and shared their support of the trans community, including Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redm, Rupert Grant, Chris Columbus, David Tenant, Miriam Margalles, and Emma Watson herself. The Golden Trio have received the most criticism for these comments with Rowling supporters calling them ungrateful towards the person who gave them their big break. A sentiment that Rowling has echoed. When asked about her relationship with Rowling in September 2025, Emma responded, quote, “I really don’t believe that by having had the experience and holding the love and support and views that I have means that I can’t and don’t treasure Joe and the person that I had personal experiences with. It’s my deepest wish that people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me. and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with. This drew criticism from both sides of the conversation with one saying that Emma was too cordial while the other said she was being too hostile. Either way, it prompted a response from Rowling in the form of one of her infamous Twitter tirades. Quote, Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn’t want to see any of them threatened with loss of work or violence or death because of them. However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right, nay, obligation, to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of deacto spokespeople for the world I created. Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life, uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience, she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is. A reminder that Emma was cast in Harry Potter when she was only 9 years old. And try as she might to distance herself from the series, it was a pivotal part of not only her career, but 21st century culture as a whole. Even if she didn’t write it, Harry Potter is as much a part of her life as it is Rowling’s. And expecting her to say no comment every single time people bring it up is just ridiculous. Not to mention that the only reason that Rowling seems to be up in arms about it is because they’re in disagreement. And whenever other actors appear to be on her side, she’s ecstatic about it. I mean, Tom Felton kissing up to her is basically the only reason he’s still employed. Emma’s political activism has been upsetting people for the better part of a decade. And it’s interesting how traits that were once used to compliment her, like confident and clever, have evolved into insults, like bossy and conceited. The fact that she followed the rules for most of her life and still has such a negative reputation proves that no matter how well spoken or well- behaved a young actress might be, people will always find a way to cut her down to size. I hope you enjoyed this video. Don’t forget to like and subscribe and I’ll see you soon. Bye.

emma watson was first introduced to the public as hermione granger in the harry potter franchise, catapulting her to fame and making her one of the most recognizable celebrities of the early 2000s. in the years since, her career has evolved and she’s been everything from a disney princess to a burberry ambassador to an outspoken feminist. what are your thoughts on emma watson?

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