Emma Watson: I hated my strong eyebrows

Emma Watson has admitted she used to hate her strong eyebrows.

During a talk with feminist writer Gloria Steinem, the 25-year-old actress said: "I used to hate that I had strong eyebrows. As a nine year old I desperately wanted to pluck them and make them two thin lines."

But she admitted that "you come to embrace these things", adding: "My mother desperately tried to tell me that they gave my face character, don't be ashamed."

And perhaps mother does know best - since prominent brows are currently the height of fashion.

Watson also reflected on her breakthrough appearance playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films as she interviewed 81-year-old Steinem, who has just published her latest book, My Life On The Road, for a special event held by the How To Academy.

"I feel as though I spent a long time trying to pretend I was not like Hermione. And, of course, I was rather like Hermione. I've finally come to accept the fact," she said.

Her comments come just days after she announced she would be taking a year out from acting to focus on feminist activism and her role as the global goodwill ambassador for United Nations women.

In true Hermione fashion, she told Paper magazine she wanted to "read a book a week" to improve on her knowledge of feminism.

Steinem mentioned Watson's gap year to the crowd at the Emmanuel Centre in London, describing it as "precious and unusual".

She told Watson: "I think people come to know you on screen and they trust you. That is why it is so great and important that you are taking that trust and putting it to work by giving out activism information."

Watson and Steinem also spoke about their experiences as prominent speakers in the feminist movement.

Watson said that she can suffer from "frustrating" mind-blanks and "thought she was going to die" when she made her first speech on the topic at the UN on the launch of her HeForShe campaign.

She admitted nerves still get to her. "I just shake and am really embarrassed and conscious that people can see me shaking. "So I try to keep my hands out of view, then I try to introduce them later on so I don't look stiff," she said.

Watson also described acting as "both the most liberating and terrifying thing" and talked about how she finds speaking as a character compared with speaking as herself.

"It's the most transcendent amazing experience, and I love what I do. But to speak from my own experience is really amazing for me," she said.