Emma Watson Won’t Deny Her Inner Hermione Any More

While interviewing Gloria Steinem at the Emmanuel Centre in London during a special event hosted by the How To Academy on Wednesday, Emma Watson spoke about the similarities between herself and Hermione Granger, the character she played in the Harry Potter film series. “I feel as though I spent a long time trying to pretend I was not like Hermione,” she said, according to the Huffington Post. “And, of course, I was rather like Hermione; I’ve finally come to accept the fact.”

This revelation comes less than a week after the 25-year-old U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador announced she is taking a year-long break from acting, during which she plans to read a book a week and continue to learn more about feminism and gender studies.

Read More: Emma Watson to Take Break From Acting to Focus on Feminism

She and Steinem also spent time discussing body image and insecurities. Watson explained that she grew up critiquing her own appearance. “I used to hate that I had strong eyebrows,” she said. “As a 9-year-old, I desperately wanted to pluck them and make them two thin lines. You come to embrace these things. My mother desperately tried to tell me that they gave my face character.”

Steinem elaborated on the issue, emphasizing the importance of self-confidence: “Our bodies are instruments not ornaments,” the 81-year-old author of My Life on the Road said. “We should celebrate our different shapes and sizes, our caesarean scars and all the other beautiful imperfections that make us who we are. I hope every woman in this room goes home tonight, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Yes, this is fan-f—ing-tastic!'”