Kristen Stewart Says Princess Diana Still Haunts Her: ‘I Can Cry...’

Kristen Stewart may have moved on to several new projects since Spencer, but her connection to Princess Diana still lingers in unexpected ways. Years after portraying the late royal on screen, the actor admits the role continues to stay with her, long after the cameras stopped rolling.

Stewart played Diana in the 2021 film Spencer, directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Stephen Knight. The film offered a fictionalised look at a pivotal Christmas in 1991, as Diana spent the holiday with the royal family while her marriage to the future King Charles was falling apart. Rather than a traditional biopic, the film focused on Diana’s emotional isolation and inner conflict.

Kristen Stewart Says She Is Haunted By Princess Diana

In a recent interview with

The Telegraph, Stewart reflected on how deeply the experience affected her. Speaking in London, the 35-year-old shared that Diana remains present in her thoughts and haunts her during everyday moments. “I still am. I can’t drive ’round this city, and Paris for that matter, without thinking about her,” she said. Stewart added that the emotional weight of Diana’s life still hits her without warning. “All the love that poured out of this woman… I can cry about her at any moment,” she said, referring to the Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36.

Looking back, Stewart revealed she was initially unsure about being cast in the role. “I told Pablo he was insane and he should probably hire someone else, but he refused to accept that,” she recalled. She pointed out the obvious differences between herself and Diana, from physical appearance to presence. “There were some massive distinctions between her and me. It was the statuesque thing. It was the eye color – I have green eyes; she has very famously blue eyes that match her ring. So I was like, ‘Should we make the engagement ring green, then?’” Stewart said. According to her, Larraín reassured her that the casting was about capturing Diana’s “spirit.”

The performance went on to earn widespread acclaim, with Stewart receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 2022. She believes the director saw a shared emotional thread between her and Diana. “He saw a little bit of overlap in terms of our experience. And there was something about my energy,” she said.

Stewart also spoke about the intense scrutiny Diana faced, calling it deeply damaging. “She was plucked, plucked to death [by paparazzi],” she said, adding that the constant attention “does kind of soul suck.” She admitted that by the end of filming, “I did feel a bit like a shell, and I think she did too. That was the point.” Decades after her death, Princess Diana remains a figure of empathy and fascination.