The 'Bling Ring' actress is putting her acting career on hold in order to further her knowledge about feminism.
- Feb 20, 2016
AceShowbiz - Emma Watson is taking a hiatus from acting. The UN goodwill ambassador known for her HeForShe initiative sits down with activist Bell Hooks to reveal her plan to read books and study about feminism, a topic that she has been vocal about.
"I'm taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one," she said in an interview for Paper Magazine. "My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I'm doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own."
Super honoured to be interviewed by @BellHooks ❤https://t.co/rz6GDIZR2W pic.twitter.com/W97DZ1EpP6
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) 19 Februari 2016
"I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realized that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading," she went on. "I actually wanted to keep on the path that I'm on. I'm reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening."
The 25-year-old actress added, "I want to listen to as many different women in the world as I can. That's something that I've been doing on my own, through the U.N., the HeForShe campaign, and my work generally."
Watson credited her involvement in feminism for her personal transition into a self-loving, confident woman. "I'm on my journey with this and it might change, but I can tell you that what is really liberating and empowering me through being involved in feminism is that, for me, the biggest liberation has been that so much of the self-critiquing is gone," she explained.
"So much energy and time -- even in subtle ways -- I'm 25 now and I've certainly come a long way from where I was in my early 20s. Engaging with feminism, there is this kind of bubble now that goes off in my head where these really negative thoughts about myself hit, where I'm able to combat them in a very rational and quick way. I can see it now in a way that's different."
"I see so many women struggling with issues of self-esteem," she continued. "They know and they hear it and they read it in magazines and books all the time that self-love is really important, but it's really hard to actually do."
