Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson: a romance where much was said and little was shown
Since the premiere of the Twilight saga, the couple's chemistry exploded among their followers, but it took them three years to confirm their relationship. Ups and downs of a courtship as secret as it is magnetic
They were beautiful, they were young, they were actors, they were boyfriends, were they boyfriends? The first was assured by his followers, the last was asked by those who did not know if Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were living a real love story or just starring in a skillful marketing action. Far from clearing doubts, the young actors did not confirm or deny their relationship. Together they looked so adorable that, for producers, fans and journalists, it did not matter if the relationship was authentic, the important thing was that it was believable.
Pattinson and Stewart met in 2007 when they were called to be the protagonists of Twilight, the story of a girl who falls in love with an attractive boy who hides a little detail: he is a vampire. They say (and I apologize to the reader but this note will be full of say) that as soon as he saw her at her casting he fell in love with her. They were not "produced" for the occasion, on the contrary, the girl was wearing simple jeans and a gray shirt; he was wearing a red and blue checkered shirt, his hair had a strange black color, a product of the dye applied for his last film.
The actors chatted for a while, gave the test. Kristen had already been confirmed that the role of Bella was hers, but for Edward, Catherine Hardwicke, the director, had doubts. When she saw them act and interact, her resentments pulverized. They say that she was “excited” and “static”. The chemistry, the crush, the attraction or whatever you want to call it was evident to everyone.
The couple shared scenes and in the long waits between takes, they exchanged secrets and laughs. With her British accent, he told her that her mother worked in a modeling agency and her father imported old cars. He told her that since he was a boy he had modeled for children's brands, but when he started puberty and his hair began to grow they stopped hiring him because they told him he "looked gay", she was horrified by the prejudice. Pattinson told her about his work in theater and she asked him to tell her all about the Harry Potter movies where he had acted.
She told him about her father, John Stewart, director and producer of the powerful Fox network, and about her mother, Jules Mann, a great screenwriter. They both had fun mimicking his Australian accent. She got serious when she revealed to him that after 27 years of marriage, the marriage was breaking up. She confessed to him that as a child she had not wanted to be an actress but that an agent saw her act in a school play and decided to represent her, and so at the age of nine she made her debut in Triton by accident, a Disney movie. He admired her when she talked about her work with none other than Jodie Foster in Panic Room and with Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone in Devil's Throat. Without bragging, she recalled her first leading role, at age 13, in her TV movie Speak and Seann Penn directing her in a small role in Wild Road.
The relationship flowed. Years later Nancy Kirkpatrick, one of the directors of Summit Entertainment would confirm at a Twilight fan convention that its protagonists "were in love" and gave more details: "Rob and I shared a flight on a private plane and talked about many things. She told me that he had a crush on Kristen from the first time he saw her at the casting.”
In love, with an obvious attraction, the young people denied their romance for a powerful and legal reason. Kristen was 17 when they met and Robert was 21. In the state of California, the age of sexual consent is 18. If they had sex it was a crime, even if it was consensual or initiated by Kristen - who by law was a minor - and it was considered child abuse.
Every time young people were asked if they were together they denied it and they continued to deny it in 2008 when Kristen turned 18, in 2009 when they were seen at a concert, and in 2010 when they said they were on secret dates.
Although they denied it when they had to promote a movie of the saga, when they saw them the chemistry sprouted and the infatuation was undisguisable. However, when confronted with the journalists who persecuted them or when they appeared at a conference if they were asked about their relationship, they responded evasively and, what is worse, with an angry face.
A difficult circle began to cut: You ask / You don't answer / You get angry / I insist. Because the saga also broke box office records and there was an audience that asked to know everything about their idols. The headlines spoke of infidelities, contract love, conspiracy theories and many "say he said". They were criticized for being unfriendly, particularly Kristen because she never smiled for photos. “Sometimes I am literally holding back tears. It's a physical reaction to all that energy thrown at you."
The more rumors there were about them, the more they closed. “A magazine published that I was going to get married. No one knows what is true and what is not," Pattinson said. "Even my mother called me to ask if it was true," she added. Her partner tried to explain the reason for her silence: “Some tell me that if I know who I am dating, people will stop being so greedy about it. It is not true, if I speak they will start asking me for more details”.
Only in 2011 did they admit their courtship, a year later the first image of her kissing in a place that was not on set appeared. While they filmed four films of the Twilight saga, the first was released in 2008, followed by New Moon in 2009, Eclipse in 2010 and Breaking Dawn in 2011 and its second part in 2012.
On July 22, 2012, they attended the Teen Choice Awards to say goodbye to their fans and thank them for "five amazing years." It seemed that they were finally friends with fame and what was asked of them as celebrities. Just 24 hours later they would pay too high a price for being where they didn't want to be.
The next day, photos were released of Kristen kissing Rupert Sanders, the director of Stewart's new film, Snow White and the Huntsman, who was also married and the father of two children. The scandal was huge. Even Donald Trump – who at that time was not president but was already in the media – tweeted: “Robert Pattinson should not get back together with Kristen Stewart. He cuckolded her like a dog and he will do it again. And if not, look. He can find someone much better!”
To quiet the noise a bit, Sanders justified it as a "momentary lapse" and issued a public apology. "I am completely heartbroken at the pain I have caused my family," he wrote. “My beautiful wife and heavenly children are all I have in this world. I love you with all my heart. I pray that we can get through this together.”
Stewart also released a statement: “I am deeply sorry for the pain and embarrassment I have caused my loved ones and everyone who has been affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love you, I love you, I'm so sorry." The next day she was seen walking around Los Angeles smiling. All the programs discussed about that indecipherable smile in the best Gioconda style. They said it was relief, freedom or simply because she had reached a point where what they said about her mattered little or nothing.
They say they continued and grew worse. They say that Pattinson wants to talk man to man with Rupert Sanders but others say that he really wants to talk to Liberty, his wife. They say she bought an engagement ring that she flushed down the toilet. They say that she does not stop crying while she drinks energy drinks. They say that James Franco threw Kristen "wave" during the Toronto festival, and that she thought to accept it because "there is nothing better for a girl's broken heart than to receive the admiration of a handsome man" or because we already know that a nail takes out another nail.
To continue with the melodrama, a photo appeared where Stewart was seen entering his car where a rogue instead of the typical "wash me dirty" wrote "I <3 Rob" (that is, I love Rob). Without communications and without statements they ended their relationship. Pattison moved from Los Angeles to New York and each put her life back together.
It took six years for Stewart to tell a little about what he lived through. On the Howard Stern Show for the first time they didn't "said he said" but she said. She admitted that Pattinson was her first love and that her love for him was always pure: “We were together for years, it was kind of like the first. Is the best".
"It's weird to be honest about this, because it's been so consumed, that I have this fear that people will think it's for attention like 'oh, sure, it's still blowing the narrative' or whatever. And I have never really been able to explain what happened because I was always very conscious of seeming like a person who seeks that kind of attention, ”she tried to clarify.
"We were together for years, he was like my first (love), and although I was in love with my high school boyfriend, with Rob I was already a little older and it was like 'bum bum'", he said and assured that both they avoided showing their affection in public not because they were unfriendly but because they did not want to feed the media with their private life: “You deprive yourself of so many experiences… We did not walk down the street hand in hand because we did not want to give them that satisfaction, but not being able to do those things sucked."
When she was asked about a possible wedding with the British actor, as "they said" she was going to happen when the couple broke up, she admitted that, if she had asked him, she might have said yes.
As for love after love?, Pattinson had a relationship with FKA Twigs a British singer and since 2018 she is with Suki Waterhouse, a model and actress who was previously the girlfriend of Bradley Cooper. He remains reluctant to show his relationships: “If you let people in, it devalues what love is. If a stranger on the street asked you about your relationship, you would think that he is extremely rude. I can't understand how a couple can walk down the street holding hands, and it's the same thing I do, but hundreds of people are taking my photo. The line between when you're acting and when you're not will eventually blur and we'll go crazy."
Kristen defined herself as bisexual. She dated French singer Stéphanie Sikoliski, visual effects designer Alicia Cargile, and model Stella Maxwell. Her current partner is designer Dylan Meyer.
The actors did not work together again although they choose similar projects: independent films and above all, that will never become sagas.
They say that in this story (or not love story) those who benefited the most were the producers. “People wanted me and Rob to be together so much that our relationship was turned into a product. It wasn't real life," Stewart said. Far from their time as Robsten, both actors know that the only thing that matters is what they say and not what they say about them.
