Kristen Stewart: No One Gives More of a F--k Than Me

"I have not always been completely comfortable being shoved into the brightest, most blinding spotlight you can imagine," she says

Kristen Stewart may look like a badass, but she doesn't always feel like one.

Recently, Salon's deputy entertainment editor Anna Silman paid the 24-year-old Still Alice actress a compliment, saying, "You are kind of a hero to people, in a way. A lot of people admire what they see as your give-no-f--ks attitude." The comment surprised Stewart, who replied, "I'm like, actually, 'No one gives a f--k like me. No one gives more of a f--k than me.' It's just ironic to me. I'm always like, 'Really?'"

Who could blame her for being wary of the spotlight?

Stewart has been a tabloid target since ever since Twilight was released in November 2008. "I have not always been completely comfortable being shoved into the brightest, most blinding spotlight you can imagine," the star admitted. "That was always tough, but on the other side of it, what I do, I love that."

So, does Stewart prefer working on a smaller scale? "I've never tactfully maneuvered through anything I felt passionately about—my job being really, really high on that list. I haven't planned, I haven't thought about my trajectory or how to design my career in a way that I can get what I want. Luckily I've gotten what I wanted naturally—I'm such a lucky bastard—but I had no idea Twilight was going to be a big deal. It blew up. It's always hard to compare projects and I think each moment we live obviously makes us the person we are right now, so each project has a bit of a through-line because it is me at different stages of my life but they don't have anything to do with one another in terms of design," the movie star said.

The actress loves promoting her projects, like Clouds of Sils Maria and Still Alice, but also fears she might sound disingenuous in interviews. "I find myself saying things that I hear other people say where I'm like, 'OK, you're lying.' But I say the same thing, and I wonder if people think I'm lying when I say, 'Oh, we were just a big family on set!' I hate that stuff," Stewart said. "People always ask if I chose the projects I've chosen because I'm trying to redefine myself or people's perception of me. Uh, no. In a word, nah."

Maybe she's more badass than she thinks.