Kristen Stewart can't escape Princess Diana—even years after the cameras stopped rolling. In a raw revelation that exposes the dark side of method acting, the Spencer star admits the role didn't just earn her an Oscar nod—it left her psychologically scarred and fundamentally changed her approach to Hollywood.
"I still am haunted," Stewart confessed in a bombshell interview with The Telegraph, describing how Diana's ghost follows her through London and Paris streets. "All the love that poured out of this woman… I can cry about her at any moment."
Kristen Stewart's transformative performance as Princess Diana in 'Spencer'. Netflix
The haunting connection? Stewart reveals she and Diana shared a brutal bond: being "plucked to death" by paparazzi. "She was plucked, plucked to death," Stewart said, her voice trembling with recognition. "That kind of attention does kind of soul suck."
The aftermath was devastating. "I did feel a bit like a shell, and I think she did too," Stewart admitted, exposing how deeply she internalized Diana's trauma. "That was the point."
Initially, Stewart thought director Pablo Larraín was "insane" for casting her. "I told Pablo he was insane and he should probably hire someone else," she recalled, laughing at her own doubts about matching Diana's iconic blue eyes and statuesque presence. "Should we make the engagement ring green, then?"
But Larraín insisted it was about capturing Diana's "spirit"—a gamble that paid off with Stewart's career-defining performance and first Oscar nomination.
Now, that haunting experience has propelled Stewart into her directorial era. Fresh off her feature debut The Chronology of Water, she's taking control of her narrative. "It's how I relate to the world," she said. "I'm always going, 'How are we going to make that into a movie?'"
Kristen Stewart at the 2026 WWD Style Awards. Amy Sussman/Getty
Stewart's transformation comes amid her critique of a "terrifying" political landscape. "Reality is breaking completely under Trump," she warned, before adding defiantly: "But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in."
For Stewart, that reality means channeling Diana's ghost—and her own scars—into art that refuses to be silenced.
