Kristen Stewart reveals in an interview with The Telegraph that she still feels emotionally connected to Lady Di, five years after portraying her.
Kristen Stewart has revealed that she still feels emotionally connected to Lady Diana, nearly five years after portraying her in ‘Spencer’ (2021), a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the actress confessed that the bond has never fully faded. “It still happens to me. I could cry for her at any moment,” she said.
“I still can’t drive through this city — and it happens to me in Paris too — without thinking about her,” Stewart explained, referring to London and to the place where Diana died on 31 August 1997, aged 36, in a car accident. “All the love that poured out of this woman…” she added, visibly moved.
Stewart recalled that she initially felt unprepared to take on the role. “I told Pablo (Larraín) that he was crazy and that he should probably hire someone else, but he absolutely refused,” she said. She also pointed out the obvious physical differences between them, including height and eye colour. “I have green eyes, and she had those very famous blue eyes that matched her ring. So I asked him, ‘What if we make the engagement ring green instead?’” she joked, referencing the iconic sapphire and diamond ring now worn by Kate Middleton.
According to Stewart, Larraín insisted the film was never about imitation, but about capturing Diana’s spirit. “He saw a certain parallel between our experiences. Something in my energy made sense to him,” she explained.
The actress also reflected on the relentless media pressure Diana endured. “They tore her apart piece by piece. Her rebellious qualities were so desperate, so young, so vulnerable,” she said. “That level of attention drains the soul. When we finished shooting ‘Spencer’, I felt a bit like an empty shell — and I think she felt that way too. That was the point.”
Speaking previously to People in 2022, Stewart described Diana as having “an unstoppable light” and an extraordinary ability to make people feel seen, even during the painful period depicted in the film, which centres on the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles.
“Trying to even brush against that energy made me grow as a person,” Stewart concluded. “Even if it was only in my imagination, convincing myself that I suddenly had that superpower she had — making people feel good.”
