In a candid interview with the September issue of Elle UK magazine, the 26-year-old actress is remarkably open about her relationship with film producer Alicia Cargile, seen in the video below.
“Right now I’m just really in love with my girlfriend,” Kristen tells the magazine.
“We’ve broken up a couple of times and gotten back together, and this time I was like, ‘Finally, I can feel again.’ ”
Kristen’s love life has been the subject of headlines for years.
She says she finally decided to talk about Alicia so that people don’t think she’s “ashamed” about being in a relationship with a woman.
“I was like, ‘Actually, to hide this provides the implication that I’m not down with it or I’m ashamed of it, so I had to alter how I approached being in public.”
Kristen began dating her fellow Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson in 2008, but did not publicly acknowledge the relationship until 2012. Now, she said it’s easier to admit she’s dating a woman than a man.
“When I was dating a guy I was hiding everything that I did because everything personal felt like it was immediately trivialised, so I didn’t like it,” she explains.
“We were turned into these characters and placed into this ridiculous comic book, and I was like, ‘That’s mine. You’re making my relationship something that it’s not.’ I didn’t like that.”
Kristen says taking a more candid approach is the best thing she’s ever done.
“It opened my life up and I’m so much happier.”
Kristen also speaks about overcoming her anxiety in the interview, partly helped by work which she says makes her feel “stimulated and therefore like I have a purpose, and therefore like I’m strong and confident”.
She explains: “I went through so much stress and periods of strife. I would have panic attacks…I literally always had a stomach ache.
“I just grew out of it, but that’s not to say I don’t get worried.”
