The Real Reason Harry Potter Star Had to Spend Insane Money on a Bodyguard
Of the three kid actors who played the main characters in Harry Potter movies, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione) and Rupert Grint (Ron), Emma Watson until recently had arguably the most successful post-Harry Potter career as an actor.
While all three eventually played a variety of new roles, Emma was the only one to eventually score a lead role in another hugely profitable blockbuster, even if that was the live-action remake of Disney 's Beauty and the Beast. She also played in a number of other successful movies, most recently Little Women (2019).
Of course, just like her fellow Harry Potter stars, Emma is rich now. She earned a lot of money, from the movies themselves, and then from endorsements with companies like Calvin Klein, or Dolce & Gabbanna, and her current net worth is estimated to be about $85 million.
While rich actors often make extravagant and wasteful purchases, sometimes even attempting to buy whole towns (yep, we are looking at you, Bruce Willis), Emma, as far as we know, avoided such pitfalls, despite her youth. However, some additional expenses come as a natural risk, associated with her star status.
For example, Emma revealed recently that she is spending roughly $150,000 on a bodyguard every year.
There is a good reason for her to do so. She has her stalkers, and during the filming of Noah (2012) one of those snuck past the security personnel on the set, suddenly appearing before the actress. Emma's scream alerted the security, and they removed the uninvited guest from the set before he could do anything beyond scaring her.
Remembering that she had seen the same man before, hanging outside of her home in New York City, Emma decided not to rely on police and whatever security staff film producers might hire, and get a personal bodyguard, a former New York Police Department officer, who is now protecting her from stalkers around the clock.
Well, given Emma's fame and the number of obsessive fans in the Harry Potter fandom – given the sheer size of that fandom, existence of some Harry Potter fans with questionable grasp not just on manners, but sanity, is inevitable, in any case – that is a sensible investment. Better safe than sorry.