By “I didn’t talk about my first relationships that went public because I wanted things that are mine to be mine,” she tells The London Sunday Times. “I hated it that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world. But considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me. It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves.”
For Stewart, dating Pattinson yielded more attention than she ever wanted. “If it didn’t seem like a relevant topic, like something that needed help, I would have kept my life private forever. But then I can’t walk outside holding somebody’s hand, as I’m followed everywhere,” she says. “When I was dating Rob, the public was the enemy—and that is no way to live. It wasn’t this grand statement, ‘I was so confused! Now I’ve realized who I am!’ I have not been struggling.”