Stewart 'uneasy with child fame'

Twilight star Kristen Stewart has admitted she had a hard time growing up in the public eye.

The actress, 22, who became world famous at the age of 18 for her role as Twilight heroine Bella Swan, said that she was "overly self-conscious" and that she appeared "weird" to onlookers.

She told the Radio Times that she was uncomfortable with fame even before she made Twilight, with the release of Panic Room when she was 13.

"People would come up to me when I was eating with my family in a restaurant or something, and I would always just curl up into myself in a ridiculous manner," she said.

"My family would be so embarrassed and it would be like, 'Kristen, what are you doing? Just be nice and say hello.' And I honestly don't know what my problem was."

Kristen, who has been in Cannes promoting her new film On The Road, added: "I think it's natural that 13-year-olds can be pretty insecure but what's unnatural about it was that I wasn't insecure.

"I loved talking to people, normally....It's just fame. That's what I had a really hard time with."

Kristen, who's in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, said of her public demeanour: "I was such a freak with all that stuff in the beginning and that's why everyone thought I was such a weirdo. I was definitely overly self-conscious."

The US actress added of Twilight: "I acknowledge that people will absolutely identify me with Bella forever and it's had a hand in giving me everything that I have, which is a lot.

"It's undeniable that a lot of people will know me for that. But whether, personally, that was the one that defined me? Probably not."