Emma Watson: Beauty & The Beast actress says she's taking a year off from acting

Emma Watson says she’s taking a yearlong break from acting to focus on herself and her work with the HeForShe gender equality campaign.

“I’m taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really,” Watson told feminist writer bell hooks in an interview for Paper Magazine. “My own personal development is one. I know that you read a book a day. My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I’m doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own.”

She explained that while she once thought about returning to a formal education in taking gender studies courses, she found she learned more swiftly through her own reading and experience. To her second reason for the break, Watson discussed some of her plans regarding HeForShe.

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“This January, our HeForShe IMPACT champions are ten CEOs who for the first time will be releasing to the media what their companies look like internally,” she said. “So how many CEOs are male or female, the gender wage gap. We’ll be making all of these statements completely transparent, which is huge. It’s never been done before.”

She continued, “I’ll also take another field trip in the next two or three months. We are organizing a HeForShe arts week, a university tour, and launching the HeForShe website. It’s a lot. There’s a lot to do.”

Though she’ll be on break, Watson’s Colonia, in which she plays a woman who infiltrates a cult, will hit theaters this year along with Regression with Ethan Hawke. The Circle with Tom Hanks is also expected for a 2016 release, while 2017 will see Watson as Belle in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.