Kristen Stewart has said she was advised to be less affectionate with her girlfriend in public if she ever wanted to land a role in a Marvel film.
The Hollywood star, who was in an on-off relationship with model Stella Maxwell for around two years, said she was “informed by an old-school mentality” of keeping certain things about her personal life a secret.
Stewart, 29, told Harper’s Bazaar UK: “I have fully been told, ‘If you just like, do yourself a favour, and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie.’
“I don’t want to work with people like that.”
Stewart did not reveal who had made the Marvel comment to her.
The film star, who was previously in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, said she has found the freedom to be herself because she “just wanted to enjoy my life”.
She said: “And that took precedence over protecting my life, because in protecting it, I was ruining it.
“Like what, you can’t go outside with who you’re with? You can’t talk about it in an interview?”
She added: “I was informed by an old-school mentality, which is – you want to preserve your career and your success and your productivity, and there are people in the world who don’t like you, and they don’t like that you date girls, and they don’t like that you don’t identify as a quote unquote ‘lesbian’, but you also don’t identify as a quote unquote ‘hetero-sexual’.
“And people like to know stuff, so what the f*** are you?”
Stewart has previously talked about having a fluid approach to her sexuality, and she is currently rumoured to be dating another woman, screenwriter Dylan Meyer, after having reportedly split from Maxwell.
On her past relationship with Pattinson, who she dated from 2009 until 2012, Stewart told of the struggles they faced as a high-profile celebrity couple while at the height of their early careers.
“When me and Rob were together, we did not have an example to go by,” she said.
“So much was taken from us that, in trying to control one aspect, we were just like, ‘No, we will never talk about it. Never. Because it’s ours.’”
Stewart will next appear in the new Charlie’s Angels reboot opposite Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska and director Elizabeth Banks. The film is released in UK cinemas on November 29.
The October issue of Harper’s Bazaar is on sale from Thursday September 5.