No magic fix: Harry Potter star Emma Watson banned from driving for 6 months

English actress Emma Watson has been ordered to stay off the wheel. The actress has been temporarily banned from driving as a result of a 2024 speeding incident.

The ‘Harry Potter’ alum was ordered not to drive for six months on Wednesday, nearly a year after a camera caught her going 38 mph in a 30 mph zone in Oxford, England, reports ‘People’ magazine.

Watson, 35, who played Hermione Granger, the friend of boy wizard Potter in the hugely popular movie franchise, was banned for driving at 38 miles (61 km) an hour in a 30-mile zone in southeastern Banbury last July.

Watson, who was stopped while driving her blue Audi, has been studying at Oxford University. Her lawyer told the court that although she was a student "she is in a position to pay the fine."

Watson is most widely known for her starring role as Hermione Granger in all eight Harry Potter films, beginning in 2001 and ending in 2011.

As per ‘People,' the actress has taken a step back from the spotlight in recent years, even enrolling in a master's programme in creative writing at Oxford University in September 2024.

In a December 2023 interview with ‘British Vogue,’ Watson said she was "so glad that I (took a break from acting) because I have this feeling of having my own voice and creative space and sovereignty in some way that I don’t think I did before - more autonomy.”

"I’m so glad that I allowed things to be messy for a minute and to really allow myself to not know (what’s next), because the knowing that I’ve come to, I wouldn’t trade that for anything,”, she added.

Watson's most recent rare public appearances came on Feb. 14, when she attended the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Oakland, California, and later at the Cannes Film Festival in May. A source said that the Little Women actress was "very low-key" during the night out at the basketball game in February, and seemed "excited to be there”.

Pursuits in recent years for Watson have included continuing her education at Oxford after earning a degree in English Literature from Brown University in 2014. She also made her directorial debut with the Prada Paradoxe campaign in 2022.

Indo-Asian News Service