Harry Potter star Emma Watson has said her ‘shame’ was ‘everywhere’ after she was banned from driving for six months in July
Emma Watson says her phone went mad with calls when her driving ban became public. Speaking about the speeding ban for the first time, the Harry Potter actor said it has been “humbling” and a realisation that she didn’t “seem able to do some pretty basic life things”.
The 35 year old, famed for her role as Hermione Granger, was banned from driving for six months in July and had to pay out a total of £1,044 after being caught driving her blue Audi at 38mph in a 30mph zone in Oxford in July 2024. Watson, who has been studying at the University of Oxford, already had nine points on her licence before this speeding incident took place.
Discussing the ban on the On Purpose podcast with Jay Shetty, which made headlines at the time, Watson said: “I was getting phone calls, like it’s on the BBC. It’s on international, worldwide news. I was like, my shame is everywhere.”
Watson disclosed that she received messages from people who empathised with her situation and shared their own driving blunders with the star. She further explained: “When you work on films, I don’t know if people realise this, but they literally will not insure you to drive yourself to work. I’ve asked so many times.
“You have to be driven, it’s not a choice. Especially because they need you there, down to the minute basically depending on what they have going on. So I went from basically only driving myself on weekends or during a holiday, to then, when I became a student, driving myself all the time and I did not have the experience, or skills clearly, which I now will and do.
“It’s been a discovery and a journey that’s been humbling because on a movie set, I’m able to do all of these like extremely complex things, stunt, sing, dance, like do this thing, do that, whatever. And I’m like, ‘Yep, don’t worry about it, guys’.
“And then I get home and I’m like, ‘OK Emma, you seem unable to remember your keys. You seem unable to keep yourself at 30mph in a 30mph speed limit. Like you don’t seem able to do some pretty basic life things’. It’s been humbling.”
The performer and campaigner, who became a UN women’s goodwill ambassador in 2014, has appeared in numerous productions, including Disney’s 2017 live-action version of Beauty And The Beast, Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring in 2014 and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower in 2012. She also featured in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation Little Women, portraying Meg March.
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