Watson’s real-life struggle

Emma Watson wants nothing more than to be normal, said Mickey Rapkin in Elle. The English actress found instant fame at the tender age of 9 when she was cast in the Harry Potter movies, and spent much of her next 12 years on a series of movie sets. She began to worry that real life was passing her by. “I remember reading this thing that Elizabeth Taylor wrote,” says Watson. “She had her first kiss in character. On a movie set. It really struck me. I had this sense that if I wasn’t really careful, that could be me. That my first kiss could be in somebody else’s clothes. And my experiences could all belong to someone else.” With that in mind, Watson bullied her driver into giving her driving lessons and insisted on living in a freshman dorm while studying for her English degree at Brown University. “I don’t want a life where I can’t have a life,” she says. When she graduates in June, she’s determined to enjoy one of the most normal experiences of all: walking in her graduation ceremony. “So many people told me it wasn’t possible,” she says. “I kept saying, ‘I don’t care.’ I will be there. And I will be throwing a huge party. And getting very drunk.”

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