Kristen Stewart defends her controversial Rolling Stone cover photoshoot

‘Twilight’ star said she enjoyed breaking gender stereotypes and what it means to be feminine

Kristen Stewart has defended her new Rolling Stone magazine cover after it divided fans’ opinions.

The 33-year-old actor features on the front of the March edition of the US music and culture publication. Unveiled last week, the cover shows Stewart in a jockstrap and basketball shorts as she poses in a weightlifting room.

While many of the Twilight actor’s fans enjoyed the image, more conservative commentators shared their distaste for the cover.

Stewart spoke about the reaction at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday (18 February) and shared her pride towards the finished product.

“The existence of a female body thrusting any type of sexuality at you that’s not designed for exclusively straight males is something people are not super comfy with and so I’m really happy with it,” Stewart said at the festival press conference, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Also at the festival, Stewart said she enjoyed exploring what it means to be feminine and breaking traditional stereotypes.

“It’s okay to take different pictures and mix them up in a way that people aren’t used to and want to go and that’s okay, too,” she added.

“In fact, it’s pervasive and it’s everywhere and it’s being denied and it’s crazy that there aren’t more pictures like that. I loved the opportunity.”

The 33-year-old actor features on the front of the March edition of the US music and culture publication (Collier Schorr/Rolling Stone)

Kristen Stewart will soon star in the leading role in the romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding, directed by Rose Glass.

The film follows gym manager Lou (Stewart) who falls for a bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) after they cross paths in Las Vegas. The pair are roped into trouble with Lou’s father (Ed Harris), an arms dealer who runs the local crime ring.

Referring to her new film, Stewart, who is bisexual, said she felt that LGBTQ+ films should be made for the mainstream in an effort to move it forward.

She said: “We can't keep doing that thing where we tell everyone how to feel, and where we sort of pat each other on the back and receive brownie points for providing space for marginalized voices and only in the capacity that they are allowed to speak about that alone.”

Elsewhere in the Rolling Stone interview, Stewart noted that she found questions about her past relationship with Robert Pattinson to be “f***ing weird” and she “can’t keep talking about” dating her Twilight co-star.

Stewart and Pattinson began a relationship in 2009 and officially called it quits in 2013 after she was photographed kissing the married director of Snow White and the Huntsman, Rupert Sanders.

Kristen Stewart will soon star in the leading role in the romantic thriller ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (Collier Schorr/Rolling Stone)

She compared the questions the pair still receive about their dating history to if someone kept asking about high school for decades.

“You’re like, ‘F***ing A, man! I don’t know!’” Stewart said.

Love Lies Bleeding will be released in the UK on 19 April.