Emma Watson talks Brown and fame: 'I was in denial'

Emma Watson was not the victim of bullying during her time at Brown University, but if she had been... girlfriend could have handled it.

After abruptly dropping out of the Ivy League university, rumors began to circulate that the "Harry Potter" star had fallen victim to bullying by fellow classmates. Reportedly, she couldn't handle the various Hermione Granger jokes hurled at her by other students.

"It made me so sad when all this stuff came out that I left Brown because I was being bullied," she tells the U.K.'s Sunday Times. "It made no sense at all. Brown has been the opposite."

In fact, Watson rarely turned heads on campus.

"I've never even been asked for an autograph on campus. I threw a party for nearly 100 students and not a single person put a photo on Facebook," she says. "Anyway, even if I was being given a hard time, I wasn't going to wuss out of university because someone said 'Wingardium leviosa' to me in a corridor, or 'Ten points for Gryffindor.' I've been dealing with the media sine I was nine. If I can't stand up to a few people giving me a hard time, it's a bit pathetic, really. I've had so much worse."

Atta girl, Emma. If she could take any cue from her on-screen character, we're glad the girl got thick skin. She's achieved more success and made more money in the past 10 years than many of those kids would in their lifetime, anyway.

If it wasn't bullying, what was it that pushed Watson away from pursuing her education? While the actress has previously stated that she hopes to return and would continue working towards her degree, it doesn't sound like there's much of a vested interest left in it.

"I was in denial," she explains. "I wanted to pretend I wasn't as famous as I was. I was trying to seek out normality, but I kind of have to accept who I am, the position I'm in and what happened."

Adding, "I'd say to my friends, 'Why hasn't X called me? Why doesn't anyone ever pursue me?' They're like, 'Probably because they're intimidated.' It must be the fame wall. It must be the circus that goes around me. Me, as a person, I find it hard to believe I would be intimidating."

Watson appeared at the MTV Movie Awards over the weekend, where she cheered on co-star Tom Felton as he accepted the award for "Best Villain" She also debuted a sneak peek at the upcoming (and final... sad!) installment of the "Harry Potter" franchise, due out mid July.