Kristen Stewart on being in a relationship with Robert Pattinson: 'People made it into a product'

The actress says the narrative built around their relationship 'wasn't real life'

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

Kristen Stewart’s relationships have become long-standing tabloid obsessions that put her private life under increasing scrutiny, particularly after the actress started dating Robert Pattinson.

Her reticence to discuss her personal life was understandable; even the smallest bit of information just adds fuel to the fire. Stewart, 26, is one of the few hihg-profile women her age to shun social media, opting instead for just a private Instagram account.

But Stewart has moved from being fiercely guarded about her love-life to discussing her relationship with Alicia Cargile, a visual effects producer, openly. In a progressive move for gay visibility, the actress says her motivation behind this transition was to avoid any implications she is ashamed of being in a same-sex relationship.

However, while she and Cargile have unwillingly found themselves the subject of much tabloid conjecture as a result, much more was made of her dating and subsequently splitting from Pattinson.

The attention surrounding her relationship with her Twilight co-star reached fever pitch when Stewart was pictured with Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, leading Stewart to issue a public apology to Pattinson. Pattinson and Stewart had become one of the most famous couples because of the fictitious romance between their Twilight characters, meaning the condemnation that rained upon her after the images emerged was particularly severe.

Stewart told the New York Times the way the media circus constructed a narrative around their relationship because of Twilight was "gross".

“People wanted me and Rob to be together so badly that our relationship was made into a product,” she said. “It wasn’t real life anymore. And that was gross to me. It’s not that I want to hide who I am or hide anything I’m doing in my life. It’s that I don’t want to become a part of a story for entertainment value.”

Stewart was thought to have been dating Cargile since 2015 when she first responded to speculation that she was in a same-sex relationship with “Google me - I’m not hiding.” From her interview, it appears the pair have dated for three years.

“I love her so much,” said Stewart.

“I would never talk about any of my relationships before, but once I started dating girls it seemed like there was an opportunity to represent something really positive. I still want to protect my personal life, but I don’t want to seem like I’m protecting the idea, so that does sort of feel like I owe something to people.”