Kristen Stewart says living and working in Hollywood as an openly bisexual woman has not been without its challenges.
Kristen is feeling good about her romance with screenwriter fiancée Dylan Meyer.
They’ve been together since August 2019, but only recently made their red-carpet debut as a couple, at the Critics’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
Discussing how she has navigated putting her private life out there, Kristen says, “I think the hardest part has been finding the right words for it, because everyone’s experience is different.
"As an actor, you just want to reveal yourself. And so, it’s really counter-intuitive to be like, ‘Wait, but not here.’ In my private life? What is that? I’m an actor.
“I don’t really want a private life. I don’t want the details of my life to be disgustingly consumed and commodified. But at the same time I don’t want to hide anything.”
Kristen admits that some fans were confused by her bisexuality, but she wasn’t worried about it.
“It was confusing for other people," she said.
"I was fine. I was one way for a long time and I was not a different way once I started dating other people. Unless you say the words, because words matter, you’re not fully out yet.”
Kristen has come a long way since she played teenage vampire Bella Swan in the smash-hit Twilight movies.
While the series catapulted her to fame alongside then-boyfriend and co-star Robert Pattinson, it’s only now that she’s getting proper recognition for her acting, having forged a career largely in critically acclaimed indie films.
And today, she’ll be stepping out at the 92nd Academy Awards as a Best Actress nominee, thanks to her role as the late Princess of Wales in the biopic, Spencer .
The film chronicles the period in Diana’s life when her marriage to Prince Charles was collapsing.
Kristen’s uncanny portrayal has resulted in her cleaning up during awards season – but the shy 31-year-old says the Oscar nomination came as a surprise.
Speaking at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, Kristen says, “I was shocked. I was stunned! I never saw myself in this realm. I don’t always say the right things, but I love this movie. I love the people that made this movie.”
While Kristen captured Diana’s misery perfectly, behind the scenes it was a different story.
“This is a time that is hard, sad and tumultuous – but I was elated because I think Diana made me feel that way,” she says. “I think she made everyone feel that way.”
On what it was like to become Diana, Kristen says, “I felt this power. I felt taller playing her. I felt like I could bring people together. I felt like I could put my arms around people in a completely cheesy, conceptual, metaphorical, bulls**t way. I mean it. Even if it was totally made up by me and something I was convincing myself of, her life helped me do that. And that felt good.”
At the Oscars Kristen will go up against Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz and Nicole Kidman.
It’s easy to forget Kristen has been in showbiz since she was a child. Her breakthrough came aged 12 in the 2002 thriller Panic Room , alongside actress-turned-director Jodie Foster. But despite Kristen’s stellar performance, Jodie wasn’t sure Hollywood was right for her.
“Jodie did not think I was going to continue to be an actor [after Panic Room ],” Kristen admits. “I think she was like, ‘This isn’t for you.’ I think she feels the same way but she cannot stop doing it. She’s always saying, ‘Oh, I’m not an actor any more. I’m just going to direct forever.’ And you’re like, ‘Well, why do you keep making movies? You can’t stop.’
“She assumed I was going to move into a different area of this job, making movies. But I think I’m a masochist. I love it so much.
I love how much it hurts. I love how scary it is. When I was little, it seemed like I couldn’t handle that – but I can!”
And there’s been a lot for her to handle over the years. Kristen has no regrets about her role as Bella in Twilight , but she admits the fan reaction to her character, and to Pattinson’s brooding vampire Edward Cullen, got a bit “crazy”.
“When me and Rob went to Comic-Con… the sound… and the fury [from the audience],” she recalls. “It was sick! It was crazy.”
But did she ever feel a bit frightened by the fan worship?
“No,” she says. “Well, I guess in a physical way, sometimes. Maybe certain energies rendered me slightly more incapable of completing a sentence, but I was never afraid in a deep way. It was just a lot of energy to take into your body in a given moment. But no,
I was never like, ‘I don’t know if I should be doing this.’ I love making movies and I love it when lots of people see them.”
