Emma Watson Calls Photo Flap 'Very Confusing'

Emma Watson is "quietly stunned" by the fierce backlash that followed her sexy Vanity Fair photo shoot. The Beauty and the Beast star was roundly criticized last week after a photo of her appearing nearly topless made the rounds, assailed by critics of hurting feminism and her own activism as a UN Goodwill ambassador. But Watson lashed out at her critics in an interview with Reuters. "It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is about what feminism is," she says. Watson, 26, who has spoken out about gender equality, calls the controversy "very confusing." (Watch the interview here.)

"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," she says. "I really don't know what my t---s have to do with it." (The photo in question showed Watson in a Burberry crocheted bolero jacket that revealed most of her breasts.) The Harry Potter star says that the shoot with fashion photog Tim Walker "felt incredibly artistic," and calls the photos "interesting and beautiful." Many women have since leaped to Watson's defense, and Gloria Steinem tells TMZ, "Feminists can wear anything they f---ing want." (Watson once took a break from acting to educate herself about feminism—and sex.)