Universal PicturesPREVIOUSLY: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart do "the bed stuff."
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Kristen Stewart was on top.
In a 12-month period, from May 2011 to May 2012, the star earned $34.5 million, more than any other actress in Hollywood, Forbes reported. About $25 million of her earnings came from the back-to-back Breaking Dawn movies.
Another sizable paycheck came from Snow White and the Huntsman.
The adventure was to be, after a couple of indies, The Runaways and Welcome to the Rileys, Stewart's highest-profile film since covering up in Bella Swan's hoodies. The budget was big, reportedly in the neighborhood of $170 million.
The costars, chiefly Oscar winner Charlize Theron and Thor and The Avengers' Chris Hemsworth, were big. The stakes were big, too—"If my non-Twilight movies weren't accepted that is something I would hate more than the fact I can't go into Starbucks without being recognized," Stewart was reported to have told Germany's OK!
The actress was up for the challenge. Weeks before the shoot began in August 2011, she told a San Diego Comic-Con panel that she was drawn to the movie by the script's unexpected take on a fairy-tale character.
"Rupert also," Stewart said of Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, who was making his feature-film debut. "I had a good meeting with him."
Bride and Groom
One of the first scenes in Breaking Dawn Part 1 was one of the last to be shot: the wedding of Bella and Edward.
"I wanted to remember it as an experience to treasure," Stewart told USA Today at the film's red-carpet premiere in November 2011, "without any neurotic actor-y weirdness."
His on-screen bride "looked amazing," Robert Pattinson told MTV.
Offscreen, Stewart's and Pattinson's every move continued to be scrutinized. With a stray magazine quote from Stewart unofficially officially confirming a romantic relationship, the tabloid press moved onto whispers that the couple was "growing apart," or that Pattinson was "dump[ing]" Stewart.
As always, the saga only seemed to drive interest in the franchise. Breaking Dawn Part 1 dominated the 2011 holiday box office, grossing more than $700 million worldwide.
For their part, Stewart said she and Pattinson were fine. "We're not haunted by fame or the franchise," she told U.K.'s Metro. "But it is amazing to think that so many people care so much about what happens."
Scandal
Stewart and Pattinson were nearly home free.
In the summer of 2012, with the final reshoots on Breaking Dawn Part 2 completed, the pair was marking celebrations and milestones, at Pattinson's London birthday bash, at their final Twilight panel at Comic-Con (where London's Daily Mail noted Stewart flashed a "rare smile"), at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
In an interview with Blackbook magazine, Pattinson confessed that Stewart "has always done something to me that others haven't."
Then, on July 24, Us Weekly published week-old photos of Stewart and Snow White director Sanders "caught in a steamy rendezvous."
Stewart and Pattinson were no longer home free.
NEXT—OUR FINAL CHAPTER: As the Twilight franchise ends, Stewart and Pattinson break apart—and come together.