Emma Watson has become the latest celebrity to fall victim of a photo leak. The Beauty and the Beast star is taking legal action after pictures of her at a clothes fitting were stolen, it was announced on Wednesday. Speaking on behalf of the actress, her publicist confirmed: “Photos from a clothes fitting Emma had with a stylist a couple of years ago have been stolen,” adding “They are not nude photographs. Lawyers have been instructed and we are not commenting further." Back in 2014, the actress was threated with a leak of personal images after speaking out about gender equality as a US Ambassador for Women. A year later, Emma opened up about the incident, explaining that the images didn’t even exist. “I knew it was a hoax, I knew the pictures didn’t exist. The minute I stepped up and talked about women’s rights I was immediately threatened, within less than 12 hours I was receiving threats.”
Emma is taking legal action after her personal photos were leaked online
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The news comes just weeks after the 26-year-old hit back at critics after she posed for a revealing picture in the March issue of Vanity Fair. The photo, in which parts of her breasts are visible, received backlash, with many believing it to have gone against her feminist beliefs. Surprised by the reaction, Emma told the BBC: “It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is. Feminism is about giving women choice."
Emma was forced to defend her Vanity Fair shoot after critics claimed it was 'anti feminist'
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In the magazine's accompanying interview, Emma confessed she is still coming to grips with being a Hollywood icon. "I'd walk down the red carpet and go into the bathroom," she said of her early life in the glare of the spotlight. "I had on so much makeup and these big, fluffy, full-on dresses. I'd put my hands on the sink and look at myself in the mirror and say, 'Who is this?' I didn't connect with the person who was looking back at me, and that was a very unsettling feeling."
Emma, who was only 11-years-old when the first Harry Potter film premiered, admitted: "I was finding this fame thing was getting to a point of no return. I sensed if this was something I was ever going to step away from it was now or never. It dawned on me that this is what you’re really signing up for."