Emma Watson personally addressed her six-month ban from driving publicly for the very first time.
Despite being currently off the road in real life, the Harry Potter star pushed the accelerator on wide-ranging conversations with Jay Shetty.
In a candid moment, Shetty, 38, brought up that her driving penalty made headlines around the world, calling it "mainstream news." the 35-year-old actress agreed, sharing how overwhelmed she felt by the global attention.
"I was getting phone calls. Like, it's on the BBC, it was on international, worldwide news! I was like, 'My shame....' It is everywhere," she recalled.
The Beauty and the Beast actress added that the situation unexpectedly connected her with others.
“I got so many messages from people saying, 'It happened to me too,' and ‘I feel you, this is awful, it sucks,'" she said during anOn Purpose podcast episode.
The Paris-born actress went on to explain that when actors work on movies, they are typically not allowed to drive themselves to set because insurance policies won’t cover them if they do.
She says it's not a personal choice but a standard industry rule, as productions require actors to be reliably on time and fully present, often down to the exact minute, which is why they must be driven by someone else for safety and scheduling reasons.
"So I went from basically only driving myself on weekends or during holiday to when I became a student, driving myself all the time. I did not have the experience or skills, clearly, which I now will and do," the French beauty explained that her inexperience behind the wheel stems in part from industry rules.
For the unversed, Watson was involved in a speeding incident in July 2024 and was formally banned from driving for six months on July 16, 2025, by a U.K. court.
According to BBC News, she already had nine points on her license at the time and was fined £1,044 (approx. $1,396) by High Wycombe Magistrates' Court.