When I was auditioning to play Hermione, I had this fearlessness, because I wasn’t aware of anyone else. I just knew I loved that girl and I loved that role and I loved that world, and I went for it. But now I have this other thing to overcome, like in Beauty and the Beast I sang for the first time, and journalists would ask me, ‘Do you think you’re going to be able to pull it off?’ There’s an incredible awareness that I have to push through.

As a child, I loved being on stage. I loved singing, I loved the lights, I loved the adrenaline. I even loved learning lines. I was completely obsessive.

I keep telling myself that I’m a human being who’s not made to look like a doll and that who I am as a person is more important than whether at that moment I have a nice figure. It makes me sad to hear girls constantly putting themselves down. We have this unbelievably high expectations of ourselves, when actually we’re human beings and our bodies have a function.

I want to be the person who feels great in her body and can say that she loves it and doesn’t want to change anything.

I truly, truly believe that beauty is something that comes from within. You can only really look beautiful if you feel beautiful on the inside. It shows through your face, the way you move and the way you hold yourself.

The story of my life has been of public interest, which is why I’ve been so passionate about having a private identity. When I step into a character, people have to be able to suspend their disbelief; they have to be able to divorce me from that girl. And not having everyone know every single intimate detail of my entire life is part of me trying to protect my ability to do my job well.