Kristen Stewart has admitted she is considering leaving the United States due to President Donald Trump’s ‘terrifying’ impact on the film industry.
The American actress was born and raised in Los Angeles, starting her career aged just 12 when she starred alongside Jodie Foster in the thriller Panic Room. She then went on to star as Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga film series, as well as Diana, Princess of Wales in the 2021 biographical drama Spencer.
She’s now turned her attention to working behind the camera – and is currently promoting the release of her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, a biographical drama that stars Imogen Poots as Lidia Yuknavitch – a young woman who ‘finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer’.
However, Kristen, 35, has now said she’s concerned about her ability to continue working as a director in her home country.
In a new interview the actress, who has for years been vocal about politics and Trump, told The Times UK that she was unsure about her future prospects in the US.
‘It would have been impossible [to make The Chronology of Water] in the States,’ she said of her film, which was shot in Latvia.
Last year, Trump said he would be imposing a 100 per cent tariff on any movie made outside of the US, calling them a ‘National Security threat’. This was despite both blockbuster and smaller-budget films regularly being produced in both the US and other countries.
Although Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on foreign films has largely been forgotten by the administration, Kristen said threats like this were ‘terrifying’ for the film industry.
‘Reality is breaking completely under Trump,’ she continued.
‘But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in.”
When asked about her future living in the US, the actress and director – who currently lives between LA and New York – said she would consider moving abroad.
‘I can’t work freely [in the U.S.], but I don’t want to give up completely. I’d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people,’ she declared.
Speaking about focusing on a woman’s perspective in her film, she also explained: ‘History really matters. It tells you that you are either allowed to be here or not. The rewriting of history is happening because equality is becoming closer to a reality.
In the interview Kristen also discussed the notable differences she found working as an actress and director. ‘Actresses get treated like s***, I’ve got to tell you. People think anyone could be an actress, but the first time I sat down to talk about my movie as a director, I thought, “Wow, this is a different experience, they are talking to me like I’m somebody with a brain”,’ she said.
‘Ther’s this idea that directors have otherworldly abilities, which is not true. It’s an idea perpetuated by men. Not to sound like I’m complaining all the time, but it’s worse for female actors than male ones – they get treated like puppets, but they are not. Imogen put her whole body and soul into this movie.’
In 2012 Kristen was infamously targeted by the then-reality star and businessman, who slammed the actress after she was discovered to have cheated on her then-boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, who was himself married at the time.
At the time Trump, who has been married three times and left his first wife Ivana Trump for his second, Marla Maples, posted on Twitter: ‘Robert Pattinson should not take back. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again – just watch. He can do much better!’
The actress later reflected on the ‘insane’ rant, telling Variety on the day of his inauguration: ‘He was mad at me a couple years ago, really obsessed with me a couple years ago, which is f***ing crazy. What?
‘I can’t even understand it. I literally cannot even understand it. It’s such far-out concept that I don’t want to believe that actually is happening. It’s insane.
‘At that point, he was just, like, a reality star. I had no reference. It wasn’t like really a thing. But in retrospect, somebody reminded me of that and I was like, “Oh my gosh, you’re right!”.’
She also later poked fun at him while hosting Saturday Night Live in 2017, reading out some of his tweets and joking that he ‘didn’t hate her’ but was ‘in love with my boyfriend’. ‘Donald, if you didn’t like me then, you’re probably really not going to like me now because I’m hosting SNL and I’m, like, so gay, dude,’ she added.
Last year Kristen married wife Dylan Meyer in a Mexican restaurant after six years together.
The American actress’ comments about potentially leaving the US follow many other stars who have already moved abroad in the wake of Trump returning to the presidency.
They’ve included director James Cameron, actress Robin Wright, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, and comedian Rosie O’Donnell.
Last year Rosie confirmed she’d moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old child Clay and was working on getting her Irish citizenship, also suggesting her move was motivated by the US’ current political landscape.
‘It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically and hard for me personally as well. The personal is political, as we all know,’ she said.
A few months later Trump threatened to revoke her US citizenship, calling the performer a ‘threat to humanity’. She wasn’t too concerned though, declaring: ‘I’m good. I’m sage here in Ireland…I’m out of the reach of the Tangerine Mussolini.’
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