Kristen Stewart: ‘Twilight’ ‘took so much’ but ‘did not leave us empty’

Kristen Stewart is finally making fond remarks about her experience on “The Twilight Saga” films.

The actress, who skyrocketed to fame as the vampire franchise’s lead character Bella Swan, reflected on the five-year experience with E! News, which prompted her about the most profound change that has come from completing the saga.

“It’s difficult to answer that question,” the 24-year-old said at a New York City screening of her upcoming military drama, “Camp X-Ray.” “On an exceptionally obvious note, it’s opened a lot of doors, but I’ve become who I am because of that. It was five years of my life.”

“I was able to work for years and years on something that took so much out of all us and did not leave us empty, [it] replaced every bit that it took. That’s like why I love to do my job, it was just a very elongated version of that,” she said.

Stewart signed on to the films when she was 17, and her remarks are notable now because she’s been criticized for being ungrateful for the fame that came from the young-adult juggernaut.

In the past, she has appeared skittish and made negative-leaning remarks on the adverse effect the notoriety had on her personal life -- an effect exacerbated by her relationship with costar Robert Pattinson and the breakup scandal that came after her hook-up with then-married “Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders.

The actress had addressed her signature flat affect in the March issue of Marie Claire.

“I have an embarrassing incapability, seriously, of summoning fake energy,” she told the mag. “I’m just not very good on TV, and it’s not my main goal in life to get good at it. People are like, ‘She just can’t handle’ -- for lack of a better word -- ‘the spotlight.’ No, actually, I can’t, and that is totally who I am. I love being an actor, but I’m the last person to want to have a birthday party. I don’t try to force it or turn it into something else or fabricate this personality … so I totally agree when people say I’m, like, the most awkward person.”

But that hasn’t stopped her from working: Stewart has a half-dozen films in the pipeline, including Drake Doremus’ upcoming sci-fi thriller “Equals,” which also stars “X-Men’s” Nicholas Hoult, who was briefly spotted at the “Camp X-Ray” screening on Monday, PopSugar reported.

In other “Twilight” news, the franchise’s studio, Lionsgate, has announced a partnership with author Stephenie Meyer, Facebook, Women in Film and crowdsourcing platforms to release five short films next year that will be directed by aspiring female filmmakers and continue the saga.

It’s unclear if the films’ original stars will be back on screen, but Stewart will sit on the female-led advisory panel along with “Divergent” star Kate Winslet, “Red Band Society’s” Octavia Spencer, “Modern Family’s” Julie Bowen, “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke, “Frozen” director Jennifer Lee and Women in Film President Cathy Schulman.

Vampires and ‘Twilight’: Always eternal. Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.