Emma Watson has decided to stop calling herself single and is now describing herself as “self-partnered.”
In a British Vogue interview published Tuesday, Watson said she had battled with anxiety as she approached age 30 without a stable career, baby or partner.
“I never believed the whole ‘I’m happy single’ spiel,” the 29-year-old actress said. “I was like, ‘This is totally [a] spiel.’ It took me a long time, but I’m very happy [being single].
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“I call it being self-partnered,” the Harry Potter star said.
Watson said she realized she struggled with anxiety due to an “influx of subliminal messaging.”
“I was like, ‘Why does everyone make such a big fuss about turning 30? This is not a big deal.’” Watson laughed. “Cut to 29, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I feel so stressed and anxious. And I realize it’s because there is suddenly this bloody influx of subliminal messaging around.”
“If you have not built a home, if you do not have a husband, if you do not have a baby and you are turning 30 and you’re not in some incredibly secure, stable place in your career … There’s just this incredible amount of anxiety,” she said.
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Many people took to social media to share their thoughts on Watson saying she’s “self-partnered.”
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Watson is a leading women’s rights activist and a goodwill ambassador for UN Women, championing the HeForShe campaign, which urges men to advocate for gender equality.
She has also spoken out about her own experiences of sexism, recalling having suffered gender-based discrimination from age 8, and has said that as she grew into adulthood, she was sexualized by the media in a way that her male Harry Potter co-stars were not.
Watson’s full interview will appear in the December issue of British Vogue.
— With files from Reuters
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