Kristen Stewart dated Robert Pattinson for nearly four years between 2008 and 2012—and tried to keep the details private. The relationship ended with a scandal: Stewart was photographed kissing Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, then issued a public apology to Pattinson. Now, she's opening up a bit more about how she felt then—and how she's changed her approach to relationships and privacy post-Pattinson.
"When I was dating Rob, the public were the enemy—and that is no way to live," Stewart told the Sunday Times in a new interview.
"I didn't talk about my first relationships that went public [like with Rob] because I wanted things that are mine to be mine," she explained. "I hated it—that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world."
The fallout over their breakup—particularly from Twilight fans who felt wronged by Stewart—didn't break her. "I don't view the whole Twilight blow-up as being generally traumatic," she admitted. "It would take someone with a really unhealthy amount of ego to be upset that everyone doesn't love them. It would be silly to say I don't care what people think of my work and who I am, but stuff is polarizing, period."
Stewart changed her approach with relationships after Pattinson because she had an epiphany that her experience could help others. "Considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me. It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves."
That shift to being more public—which really started when she was photographed holding hands with and kissing women—"wasn't this grand statement, 'I was so confused! Now I've realized who I am!' I have not been struggling."
Stewart just doesn't have anything to hide. As she put it to T Magazine last August: "Once I started dating girls it seemed like there was an opportunity to represent something really positive."
"I still want to protect my personal life, but I don't want to seem like I'm protecting the idea, so that does sort of feel like I owe something to people."
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
