Emma Watson Reflects On Turning 33 and Why She ‘Stepped Away From My Life’
On Saturday, April 15, Emma Watson celebrated her 33rd birthday with a rare personal post about her life on Instagram. The Harry Potter star is fairly private online, and doesn’t reveal much about what she does behind the scenes. The actress shared a series of stunning photos of herself, most of them without captions, but in one of the last she posted, Watson shared some insight into where she’s at in life and acting.
“This is 33,” she began. “Holy moly. Before 29 I hadn’t even heard of a Saturn Return as a concept. Let’s just say that now I am well acquainted.”
She added some emojis to indicate that the last few years have been something else, then said she “stepped away from my life.”
“I learned to surf (badly),” Watson went on. “I rode some horses (that went better), I did a lot of therapy (YESS therapy!). My brother and I figured out how to make a gin using recycled wine grapes!?”
Watson also adopted her dog Sofia, filmed a Harry Potter reunion, and bid farewell to her grandparents. She described starting a “women’s environmental investment fund” and picking up pickleball and golf before trying to “make all of my girlfriends learn too.”
“I cut my thumb nail off on both hands trying to cook for myself and then was only able to do things one handed for months,” she continued. “I felt really sad and really pissed off about a lot of things. I learned more about love and being a woman. It took me three years but I have finally figured out a daily practice and can actually keep it for more than a few days in a row.”
Other highlights include burning “some things down” and learning to “eat green things” and obsessing about “making Squarespace websites.”
Watson then revealed that the pictures she was sharing were taken a year ago, but she didn’t share them until now because she “wasn’t ready to come out” of her “Covid Cocoon.”
The Little Women actress went on to thank all the “witches in my coven” for helping her with all this growth and new enterprises. Watson is certainly spreading her wings this year.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.