Playing the late Princess Diana in a 2021 biopic had a profound impact on Twilight star Kristen Stewart.
The 35-year-old actress said she is 'still' feeling the effects of starring as the Princess of Wales in Pablo Larraín's film Spencer five years on.
She has opened up about how she felt 'haunted' by King Charles' first wife after stepping into her shoes for the historical drama - and explained she still carries this ominous feeling to this day.
The screen star said it becomes particularly prominent when she visits either the UK or the French capital, where Diana sadly died in a fatal car crash in 1997 at the age of 36.
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Stewart revealed that she initially thought that the film's director Larraín was 'insane' when he first suggested her taking on the hefty role, but the Chilean filmmaker managed to talk her round.
She explained he saw a 'little bit of overlap' in terms of her and Princess Diana's experience of life in the public eye, given how Stewart became a household name as a teenager thanks to the Twilight franchise.
Admitting that being hounded by paparazzi 'does kind of soul suck', Stewart told The Telegraph about how it can be 'difficult to lay yourself bare' as an actor through fear of public scrutiny.
The California-born star explained she felt a lot of 'responsibility' to deliver after Larraín put his faith in her to embody the Princess, despite her suggesting he should 'hire someone else'.
Spencer explores the mental anguish that the late royal faced in wake of her husband's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Set during a tense Christmas spent at the Sandringham Estate in 1991, Stewart depicts Diana's 'struggles to find her place' within the monarchy and to 'make peace' with her spouse's infidelity on screen.
Discussing why she intiially didn't feel equipped for the role, Stewart said: "There were some massive distinctions between her and me. It was the statuesque thing...it was the eye colour - I have green eyes; she has very famously blue eyes that match her ring. So I was like, ‘Should we make the engagement ring green, then?'"
She explained becoming consumed by these details started to 'pull her under', before the director urged her to 'detach' from them, saying it was more about her sharing a similar 'spirit' to Lady Di.
And Larraín's words of wisdom ultimately paid off, as despite her concerns, Stewart's role in Spencer ended up earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 2022.
Revealing how she connected with her character, the actress said: "She was plucked, plucked to death [by paparazzi]. And her rebellious qualities felt so desperate, and so young and so vulnerable," she said, before detailing how the wardrobe department helped too.
"The clothes were part of the armour," she said. "They allowed me to step into her physical space and create images of her in this prison of a castle yet wearing lavish, stunning pieces of clothing. That is a poem in itself."
Half a decade on from Spencer, Stewart reflected on how she felt 'haunted' by Diana during filming - before adding: "I still am."
During the interview which took place in London, she said: "I can’t drive round this city, and Paris for that matter, without thinking about her. All the love that poured out of this woman...I can cry about her at any moment."
Stewart, who got married to her screenwriter girlfriend Dylan Meyer last year, is set to make her directorial debut today (6 February) amid the release of her new film The Chronology of Water.
Starring Brit actress Imogen Poots, the film explores how an Olympic swimming hopeful flees her abusive home thanks to a scholarship, only to fall into addiction - but she manages to find solace in her studies and literature.
The film is an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir of the same name and it received a six-and-a-half-minute standing ovation at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Topics: Celebrity, Film, Royal Family, Weird
Olivia Burke