Emma Watson has been linked to Brandon Green, son of fashion businessman Sir Philip Green, since September 2021
PHOTO: TAYLOR HILL/FILMMAGIC
Emma Watson prefers to keep her love life to herself.
The Little Women actress leads a very private life and an even more recluse dating life, seldom speaking about her relationships publicly. “I’ve noticed, in Hollywood, who you’re dating gets tied up into your film promotion and becomes part of the performance and the circus,” she told Vanity Fair in 2017. “I would hate anyone that I were with to feel like they were in any way part of a show or an act.”
Keeping her romantic life out of the spotlight is just one part of the equation. It takes a lot of “communication and consent,” too, she told Teen Vogue in March 2020. “The idea that relationships are supposed to be easy and it’s all supposed to be implicitly understood, and you’re just meant to get each other, it’s bulls—! It’s impossible!” she said.
Watson has been linked to fellow entertainers, including Chord Overstreet, as well as several businessmen, including Leo Robinton, to whom she was rumored to have been engaged. Most recently, she appears to be dating Brandon Green.
While the British actress has admitted to having a crush on her Harry Potter costar Tom Felton when she was young, the actors never actually dated. They’re more like platonic “soulmates,” as Watson explained in the foreword of Felton’s memoir, Beyond the Wand.
Here is a complete breakdown of Emma Watson’s dating history.
Francis Boulle
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Watson was briefly linked to Francis Boulle, an entrepreneur who was on the British reality series Made in Chelsea, after the two were photographed dancing at a Cartier polo party in 2008. Boulle later claimed to have called off their short-lived relationship.
“We had a bit of a thing a while back,” the diamond mining heir later told Heat magazine of his brief fling with the actress, per The Sun. “I have always been an ambitious person, and I want to achieve my own notoriety for what I’ve done.”
Boulle added that he had nothing but respect for the actress: “I actually really like Emma. She’s a really cool person. She’s a very different person to who she is in the media. That’s what I liked about her — she’s very interesting.”
Jay Barrymore
Watson was in a relationship with British financier Jay Barrymore from 2008 to 2010, according to the Daily Mail. Barrymore also hails from the U.K., but Watson began studying at Brown University in 2009.
While Barrymore made an effort to visit the campus, the “transatlantic gap” proved to be a heavy strain on their relationship. By the summer of 2010, Watson and Barrymore had broken up.
Johnny Simmons
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In August 2011, Watson was spotted out to lunch with her The Perks of Being a Wallflower costar Johnny Simmons, sparking dating rumors between the two. Though the actress previously denied the rumors, the two were spotted hiking together earlier in the summer.
Will Adamowicz
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A fellow Oxford University student, Will Adamowicz was romantically linked to Watson from spring 2012 to summer 2013. Their romance first made headlines when photos surfaced of the two kissing at Coachella — though Watson had no intention of going public with her new man at the time.
“My friend got me tickets [to Coachella] for my birthday, and what am I going to say? ‘No, I’m not going to go because I don’t want to be photographed’? But it was a huge crowd, and I thought there was no way anyone could get pictures of me, but somehow they found me,” Watson told Glamour in 2012.
Watson and Adamowicz were only photographed together one other time, about 10 months after their first run-in with the paparazzi. In January 2014, Watson’s rep confirmed to PEOPLE that the pair were no longer an item.
“Emma and Will separated last summer and are no longer in touch,” they said.
Matt Janney
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While cheering on Oxford University in a rugby match against Cambridge in December 2013, Watson met one of her school’s star players: Matt Janney. The two reportedly hit it off at an afterparty.
The pair dated for a year before calling it quits in December 2014. In 2015, Watson revealed to British Vogue that she had embarked on a weeklong “silent retreat” in the midst of her “horrendous” split from Janney.
“I felt really uncomfortable,” she said of being single. “Even before my relationship ended, I went on a silent retreat, because I really wanted to figure out how to be at home with myself.”
William “Mack” Knight
Watson dated William “Mack” Knight from October 2015 to November 2017. The former Harry Potter star kept her nearly two-year-long relationship with the Silicon Valley businessman rather private.
In March 2017, Watson shared why she prefers to keep her relationships offline. “I want to be consistent: I can’t talk about my boyfriend in an interview and then expect people not to take paparazzi pictures of me walking around outside my home. You can’t have it both ways,” she told Vanity Fair.
Chord Overstreet
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Watson and Glee alum Chord Overstreet became an item in March 2018. They were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Los Angeles just days after leaving the Vanity Fair Oscars party together. A source told PEOPLE that they had met through a mutual friend.
“They have been dating for a little bit now, but it’s still pretty new,” the insider shared. “They might seem like an odd match but they actually have very similar personalities.”
The two went their separate ways in May. While they didn’t comment on the reason for their breakup, a source told PEOPLE their relationship “was never going to be a long-term thing.” Three weeks later, Watson was seen packing on the PDA with Overstreet, but it seems nothing ever transpired from their steamy reunion.
Brendan Wallace
TAYLOR HILL/FILMMAGIC; YOUTUBE
In October 2018, Watson was photographed kissing venture capitalist Brendan Wallace while vacationing together in Mexico. As co-founder and managing partner of Fifth Wall Ventures, Wallace had done investment work with companies like Dollar Shave Club, Lyft, SpaceX and Philz Coffee.
Neither Watson nor Wallace publicly acknowledged their relationship, and it’s unclear when things fizzled out. By the summer of 2019, Watson confirmed that she was single in an interview with British Vogue, in which she described herself as “self-partnered.”
Cole Cook
THE IMAGE DIRECT
In May 2019, Watson was seen dining at The Spotted Pig in N.Y.C. with Cole Cook — the brother of singer Alicia Keys. The two were also photographed walking down the streets of Manhattan. This prompted fans to speculate about a possible romance. However, Watson and Cook were not photographed together again.
During an interview with USA TODAY in July 2023, Cook set the record straight regarding his former relationship with Watson.
“[We] definitely went out and had a date, but we never really went down that path,” he said.
Leo Robinton
LONDON ENTERTAINMENT / SPLASHNEWS.COM
The actress and Leo Robinton were first spotted kissing in October 2019, but fans didn’t learn the identity of her businessman beau until April 2020. Robinton reportedly wiped his social media after the photos of him and Watson sharing a kiss surfaced.
Watson and Robinton weren’t spotted again until November 2020. During their outing, they went for a stroll around London’s Primrose Hill neighborhood. For the next four months, the couple remained off the grid. In March 2021, they were spotted leaving a grocery store in L.A.
In May 2021, rumors began circulating that the pair had gotten engaged. In a tweet, Watson denied the rumors and denounced them as “ways to create clicks.” In a follow-up tweet, she noted that should she get engaged, the news would come directly from her. “If I have news – I promise I’ll share it with you,” she wrote.
However, Watson and Robinton appeared to have split when she was spotted out with Green.
Brandon Green
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Watson and Brandon Green, the son of fashion businessman Sir Phillip Green, began dating around September 2021. The pair first fueled romance rumors when they were spotted enjoying a helicopter trip in London.
Nearly a year later, in August 2022, the couple made headlines again after they were spotted holding hands in Venice, Italy. Watson has continued to keep her dating life private; neither she nor Green have publicly spoken about the status of their relationship.