Emma Watson Discusses Vow Of Silence, Humanitarian Efforts

Published on: August 8, 2015 at 12:51 PM

Emma Watson revealed to Vogue UK recently that the ending of her relationship with boyfriend Matt Janney caused her to take a week-long retreat into silence.

Watson, 25, and Janney, an Oxford rugby star, dated for about a year when they broke up in December of 2014. The Harry Potter actress once expressed to an interviewer that the dissolution of her romance with Janney was “horrendous.”

The vow of silence was imposed at a Canadian mountain retreat where the young star went to compose herself after the split.

“I felt really uncomfortable. Even before my relationship ended, I went on a silent retreat, because I really wanted to figure out how to be at home with myself,” Watson said.

However, the award-winning actress says that she hasn’t had terrible luck with relationships as a whole, according to Access Hollywood .

“The boyfriends or partners I’ve had have generally made me feel really cherished. They’ve built me up. I certainly haven’t found that with doing all that I do or being all that I am, that I’ve struggled in my love life.”

Despite issues in her personal life, however, the actress is commanding major respect with her success as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, a position she was awarded in July 2014.

“Part of me relaxed after I took on that position, it gave me a sense of belonging and purpose,” Emma told People magazine.

The humanitarian actress is also heading a campaign of her own, HeForShe, to promote gender equality, urging men as well as women to step up, saying, “Gender equality is your issue too.”

“We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe,” Watson stated in a speech given in New York in 2014 at the United Nations headquarters.

“I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, to be the ‘he’ for ‘she.’ And to ask yourself if not me, who? If not now, when?”

[Photo via Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images]

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