Emma Watson ‘stunned’ by criticism on her Vanity Fair cover shoot

The actor Emma Watson has hit back at critics who say she has betrayed her feminist ideals by posing for a revealing picture in Vanity Fair magazine, in which parts of her breasts were exposed.

The Harry Potter co-star and pioneer of the HeForShe campaign to make men advocate for feminism, talked about the photo shoot while promoting her latest film, the Disney live-action Beauty and the Beast.

“It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is,” she said.

“Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing.

“I’m confused. Most people are confused. No, I’m just always just quietly stunned.”

The photo shoot, by acclaimed fashion photographer Tim Walker, showed Watson in an open, white crocheted bolero jacket with no bra or shirt underneath.

“We’d been doing so many crazy things on that shoot,” Watson said, “but it felt incredibly artistic and I’ve been so creatively involved and engaged with Tim and I’m so thrilled about how interesting and beautiful the photographs were.”