Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's relationship seemed to be a thing of fairy tales. From 2008 – 2013 they were the reincarnation of their on-screen Twilight love story (except with warmer blood and, well, human). But as relationships in the real world often do, theirs ended, though quite acrimoniously when Stewart confessed to cheating on her co-star with the director of Snow White and the Huntsman, Rupert Saunders.
Stewart received enormous backlash from Twilight super fans, who saw the Hollywood couple as the embodiment of the much-adored vampire romance, and took great offence to her disloyalty.
Years later, and speaking to The Sunday Times, she reflected on the events.
‘If it didn’t seem like a relevant topic, like something that needed help, I would have kept my life private for ever,’ she said. ‘But then I can’t walk outside holding somebody’s hand, as I’m followed everywhere. When I was dating Rob, the public were the enemy — and that is no way to live.
‘It wasn’t this grand statement, “I was so confused! Now I’ve realised who I am!” I have not been struggling. It just seemed important, and topical.'
While in the past Stewart would be careful to keep her private life out of the public glare, she has now decided to share her relationship experiences to help others.
'I wasn't hiding anything [...] I didn't talk about my first relationships that went public because I wanted things that are mine to be mine.
'I hated it that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world.
'But considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realised [that my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me. It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves.'
The pair officially ended their on-again, off-again relationship in May 2013, and have since dated other people. Robert Pattinson is now engaged to FKA Twigs and Kristen Stewart is rumoured to be dating Victoria’s Secret Angel Stella Maxwell.
While hosting Saturday Night Live in January this year, Stewart referred to her tumultuous relationship with Pattinson by criticising President Trump's apparent obession with the matter.
‘We broke up and then we got back together again and, for some reason, it made Donald Trump go insane,’ Stewart explained before reading allowed some of Trump’s opinionated tweets about the affair.
‘Donald, if you didn't like me then, you're really probably not going to like me now’, she continued. ‘Because I'm hosting SNL and I'm, like, sooo gay dude.’
READ MORE: Watch Kristen Stewart’s Hilarious Trump Take Down On SNL
READ MORE: Kristen Stewart: Dating Robert Pattinson 'Wasn't Real Life'