Emma Watson Doesn't Care If You Label Her a 'Feminazi,' Calls Out Paparazzi Who Tried to Take Upskirt Photos
Emma Watson is a woman on a mission.
The 25-year-old actress and HeForShe activist spoke with Esquire magazine about how she's fighting for gender equality -- and how name-calling won't stop her anymore. The subject came up as she discussed Jennifer Lawrence's wage gap essay.
"We are not supposed to talk about money, because people will think you're 'difficult' or a 'diva,'" she explained. "But there's a willingness now to be like, 'Fine. Call me a 'diva', call me a 'feminazi', call me 'difficult', call me a "First World feminist', call me whatever you want."
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"It's not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing and make sure that the right thing happens," Watson added. "It doesn't just affect me, it affects all the other women who are in this with me, and it affects all the other men who are in this with me, too."
The Harry Potter actress also opened up about the "insecurity and self-critiquing" she experienced over her looks when she was 21 and how she hated having her photo taken when she wasn't working.
"I realized it's because I can't even reconcile myself with my own image on the front of these magazines," she revealed.
"Comparing myself to how I look, when I've gone through all of that makeup and styling, in my normal life is just...I can't live up to it," Watson continued. "I was like, 'Holy sh*t! If that's how I feel and I get to be the person who's on the cover of those magazines, how's anyone else meant to cope?"
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Her day-to-day experiences working in the entertainment industry are what inspired Watson to move into activism.
"I've had my arse slapped as I've left a room," she revealed. "I've felt scared walking home. I've had people following me. I don't talk about these experiences much, because coming from me they'll sound like a huge deal and I don't want this to be about me, but most women I know have experienced it and worse...This is unfortunately how it is."
Watson shared similar struggles she has faced that her male co-stars have not during her speech at the HeForShe lighting of the Empire State Building to celebrate International Women's Day on Tuesday.
"I was obviously a child actress who is still making a transition. I remember on my 18th birthday, I came out of my 18th birthday party and photographers laid down on the pavement and took photographs up my skirt, which were then published on one of the English tabloids the next morning," she recalled.
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"If they published the photographs 24 hours earlier, they would have been illegal. But because I had turned 18, they were legal," she added. "And obviously Dan[iel Radcliffe] and Rupert [Grint], who were my costars, don’t wear skirts."
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling made sure to let Watson know how proud she was of her, tweeting, "You're an inspirational woman x"
Speaking of girl power, ET spoke with the cast of The Divergent Series: Allegiant about how they created strong, badass women. Find out what they had to say in the video below.