Emma Watson: It was a very important place for me, because my mother often worked late and I stayed on and did every activity going. It was really nice [visiting her old teacher at her secondary school] because he has known me since I was 12 years old and I feel the personal history very grounding.

My parents couldn't take the time off, they had careers and they weren't together. They couldn't swap in and out like Rupert Grint's or Daniel Radcliffe's parents. And my mother had my younger brother to look after, she couldn't leave him.

Emma Watson: I've literally written out how I should deal with people when they first recognize me, because unless you are really quick about engaging them then they start to slip in to this weird place where they look at you as this external being. I think that's why, at times, I need to be on my own, to recharge. Because I get... not overwhelmed, but now and then I need to be in a space where I don't have to negotiate that kind of conflict.

I could walk down Oxford street now if I really wanted to, but I'd have to keep up a pretty mean pace. If I've already passed someone, by the time they're ready to do their second take then I tend to be all right. I wouldn't shop at Topshop without a friend. If someone recognises you, there tends to be a bit of a domino effect, which is why I'll try to get anyone who approaches on side.

I'll ask them 'Can you do me a massive favour? I can't do a photograph right now because, if I do, a camera flash is going to go off, and if a camera flash goes off then everyone's going to stand around and look at me. And then I'm not going to be able to manage the situation.' Generally people understand.

Emma Watson: Part of me relaxed after I took on that position, it gave me a sense of belonging and purpose. Everything clicked in to place, in a way that it hadn't before. I understood what I'm here to do and where to channel all this energy that has been coming at me. I now feel this sense of peace. People say that I'm different since I did it.

Initially I was supposed to launch the campaign by writing something that a newspaper might publish. I wrote a draft and sent it to my mum, dad, the UN and my publicist, and everyone had a different critique. By the end, I didn't even know what I was saying any more. I felt like people were trying to silence my voice.

[The night before the speech] I was hysterically sobbing in my hotel room, thinking, I can't do this. I was just terrified. And then I Skyped a friend who said, "Go through it again and ask yourself, if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, would you be comfortable with every single line?" She didn't remove a word.