Emma Watson Banned from Driving for 6 Months After Going This Surprising Speed

The former ‘Harry Potter’ actress already had nine points on her driver’s license before the July 2024 incident

Emma Watson has been temporarily banned from driving as a result of a 2024 speeding incident.

Sources confirmed that the Harry Potter alum was ordered not to drive for six months on Wednesday, July 16 nearly a year after a camera caught her going 38 mph in a 30 mph zone in Oxford, England, on July 31, 2024.

As detailed by the BBC, Watson, 35, already had nine points on her driver’s license before the incident, and was ordered to pay a fine of £1,044 ($1,396) at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court Wednesday. The actress did not attend the related hearing, which lasted five minutes, per the BBC.

Watson is most widely known for her starring role as Hermione Granger in all eight Harry Potter films, beginning in 2001 and ending in 2011.

The actress has taken a step back from the spotlight in recent years, even enrolling in a master’s program in creative writing at Oxford University in September 2024.

In a December 2023 interview with British Vogue, Watson said she was “so glad that I [took a break from acting] because I have this feeling of having my own voice and creative space and sovereignty in some way that I don’t think I did before more autonomy.”

“I’m so glad that I allowed things to be messy for a minute and to really allow myself to not know [what’s next], because the knowing that I’ve come to, I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” she added.

Watson’s most recent rare public appearances came on Feb. 14, when she attended the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Oakland, California, and later at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

A source reported that the Little Women actress was “very low-key” during the night out at the basketball game in February, and seemed “excited to be there.”

Pursuits in recent years for Watson have included continuing her education at Oxford after earning a degree in English Literature from Brown University in 2014.

She also made her directorial debut with the Prada Paradoxe campaign in 2022, and launched her own gin brand with her brother Alex in May 2023.