Kristen Stewart opens up about queer representation in new interview

Kristen Stewart fans know that the actor doesn’t exactly love opening up in interviews. And she’s also not one to easily share her life with fans, considering she has exactly zero social media presence. So that makes the interview she did with director Clea DuVall for the new issue of InStyle kind of special.In the interview the pair talk about everything from Chanel and their upcoming movie Happiest Season to Stewart’s role as Lady Diana in Spencer and the holidays. But it was when the conversation turned to queer representation and the pressure Stewart felt to label herself at a young age that she really began opening up.[video_embed id='5529176396001']RELATED: Kristen Stewart wants to try everything in her personal life[/video_embed]“The first time I ever dated a girl, I was immediately being asked if I was a lesbian. And it's like, ‘God, I'm 21 years old,’” she said. “I felt like maybe there were things that have hurt people I've been with. Not because I felt ashamed of being openly gay but because I didn't like giving myself to the public, in a way. It felt like such thievery,” she continued.“This was a period of time when I was sort of cagey. Even in my previous relationships, which were straight, we did everything we could to not be photographed doing things — things that would become not ours. So I think the added pressure of representing a group of people, of representing queerness, wasn't something I understood then. Only now can I see it.”In Happiest Season, Stewart plays a young woman who plans to propose to her girlfriend (Mackenzie Davis) while attending her family’s Christmas party, until then she realizes her girlfriend hasn’t yet come out to her conservative parents. Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy also star. DuVall wrote and directed the movie because she’s a huge fan of romantic Christmas stories, but had never seen herself represented.“I could not have had a better partner in this than Mackenzie,” Stewart added in the InStyle interview. “This couple needed to be two people you really liked and found aspirational. So we had to make sure of that — even though it is a movie about somebody who is coming to terms with being themselves. We had a responsibility to not be dinky.”In the interview DuVall also wondered whether Stewart felt any pressure or any expectations from the queer community to be a spokesperson of sorts. “I did more when I was younger, when I was being hounded about labelling myself,” she admitted. “I had no reticence about displaying who I was. I was going out every day knowing I'd be photographed while I was being affectionate with my girlfriend, but I didn't want to talk about it.”The actor, who celebrated her 30^th birthday in quarantine in April, added that the pressure was never from the LGBTQ+ community though. “I did feel an enormous pressure, but it wasn't put on me by the community. People were seeing those pictures and reading these articles and going, ‘Oh, well, I need to be shown,’” she explained. “I was a kid, and I felt personally affronted. Now I relish it. I love the idea that anything I do with ease rubs off on somebody who is struggling. That shit's dope! When I see a little kid clearly feeling themselves in a way that they wouldn't have when I grew up, it makes me skip.”Oh, and as for the pressure to play an iconic character like Lady Diana Spencer in the upcoming movie Spencer? Stewart is definitely feeling the weight of that one. In addition to reading biographies and working with a dialect coach to nail the accent, Stewart says she’s prepping to know her implicitly.“The accent is intimidating as all hell because people know that voice, and it's so, so distinct and particular,” she said. “I'm finishing all the material before I actually go make the movie [in mid-January]. It's one of the saddest stories to exist ever, and I don't want to just play Diana — I want to know her implicitly. I haven't been this excited about playing a part, by the way, in so long.”Sounds like 2021 is coming up K-Stew.[video_embed id='2049925']BEFORE YOU GO: 'Horse girl' from Alberta can gallop and jump just like a horse[/video_embed]