Emma Watson: Is the 'Harry Potter' Star Retiring From Acting?

There has been a persistent rumor that Harry Potter star Emma Watson was retiring from acting following a quiet 2020. The Daily Mail released a report on Wednesday that they had spoken to Watson's agent, who said that her career had gone "dormant," which the Mail interpreted as "movie-speak for she's given up acting."

According to the Mail, Watson had been taking the last 18 months to focus on her relationship with rumored fiancé Leo Robinton, who runs a legal cannabis business in California. "Emma has gone underground, she is settling down with Leo," a source told the Mail. "They're laying low. Maybe she wants a family." Watson and Robinton are currently living in LA, but the Mail claims that for months they "secretly lived in Ibiza where she would spend mornings reading the papers over smoothies at a vegan cafe."

Watson's official Instagram, where she last posted in June 2020, currently says that it is "currently dormant and is not being updated." Her last acting appearance was in Greta Gerwig's Little Women In 2019, and her IMDb page doesn't have any listed upcoming projects. Considering the fact that 2020 saw the entire world in a global pandemic, it makes sense for her to lay low, especially if you factor in Watson's alleged net worth of $60 million.

However, Jason Weinberg, Watson's manager at Untitled Entertainment, spoke to Entertainment Weekly to deny the allegations that Watson was retiring from acting altogether. "Emma's social media accounts are dormant but her career isn't," Weinberg said in a statement.

Watson admitted in 2019 that fame wasn't something that she took to naturally. "I've sat in therapy and felt really guilty about it, to be honest," the actor told British Vogue in 2019. "Why me? Somebody else would have enjoyed and wanted this aspect of it more than I did. And I struggle with it, I've wrestled a lot with the guilt around that."

"I should be enjoying this more, I should be more excited and I'm actually really struggling," Watson revealed. Since her Harry Potter days, Watson has used her platform as a foray into activism, taking on the role of UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2014 and most recently joining the board of French luxury fashion group Kering as a director and serving as the chair of the board's sustainability committee. Watson has made it clear that her ambitions go beyond Hollywood, so she's probably just taking advantage of the world being at a relative standstill to plan her next move.