Emma Watson looked uneasy after Letterman brought up a disturbing topic: "At least I'm wearing..."
David Letterman’s 'Late Show' was known for its awkward and embarrassing moments. Some of his most famous guests, like Julia Roberts, were nervous about appearing because they didn’t want to be embarrassed by him. Emma Watson felt the same way, even though she was on the show more than once. However, during one interview, things got uncomfortable when Letterman brought up a wardrobe malfunction she had recently experienced. Let’s look back at how Watson handled the situation and the funny comment she made.
In 2009, Emma Watson was a guest on 'The Late Show', where host David Letterman asked her about a "wardrobe malfunction" that happened at the premiere of her latest movie. Watson wore a vintage Ossie Clark dress for the London premiere of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. However, at one point, the wrap-style skirt opened, accidentally revealing her underwear. But instead of just talking about it, Letterman made her relive the moment. Not long after the premiere, Watson appeared on 'The Late Show', where Letterman brought up the incident during their interview. "Now, tell us what’s going on here," Letterman said, holding up a picture of her dress opening at the event. The audience laughed, and Watson responded, "Um, this was a small wardrobe malfunction. At least I’m wearing underwear." As the crowd laughed again, she shook her head and added, "I’m still learning." as per Best Life Online.
The media quickly picked up on the incident with The New York Daily Mail commenting, "[L]ittle Hermione Granger seemed unphased [sic] by the wardrobe malfunction. Good thing she was wearing a pair of granny panties, rather than going commando like many of her colleagues in Hollywood have been caught doing in the past." At that time, paparazzi were known for taking photos of young female celebrities getting out of cars, capturing moments when they weren’t wearing underwear. The Daily Mail in the U.K. also published a photo of Watson’s mishap.
By the time 'Half-Blood Prince' was released, Watson had already experienced paparazzi taking inappropriate photos of her without permission. In 2016, while speaking at a United Nations event for the HeForShe campaign, she shared an upsetting experience from her 18th birthday. "I remember on my 18th birthday I came out of my birthday party and photographers laid down on the pavement and took photographs up my skirt, which were then published on the front of the English tabloid [newspapers] the next morning," she said as per Marie Claire UK. She pointed out that if the photos had been taken a day earlier, they would have been illegal, but because she had just turned 18, they were allowed. In 2019, the U.K. passed a law banning "upskirting."
Watson chose not to take part in the press tour for 'Little Women' and decided to step away from Hollywood afterward. She felt it was the right time to take a break and admitted the movie was the one project she didn’t want to promote. “I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest. I think I felt a bit caged," she said. "The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. “To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.” And I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better,’” she said, Page Six reported.