'Twilight's' Kristen Stewart: Actress and her character have grown up | Lexington Herald Leader

Kristen Stewart was a bundle of nerves while talking about Twilight a year ago. She's more confident these days as The Twilight Saga: New Moon gets ready to rise in movie theaters Friday.

"I think I've gotten a lot more comfortable with talking about myself. I couldn't finish a sentence because I was so concerned about how it was going to sound and I didn't want to come across insincere about something that I really love to do," Stewart says. "I should have said, 'I put my heart and soul into this thing and I love it,' instead of the really logical, over-analytical reason why I love it."

She had to get comfortable because Stewart and her New Moon co-stars have become constant media fodder. She has been on more magazine and tabloid covers than the Octomom.

Stewart's take on all the tabloid attention is that it is "false" and "mean."

"It's like a ridiculous show. Like a soap opera that seems real but you're not quite sure," Stewart says, adding, "it doesn't bother me."

It has helped that Stewart, 19, has had other acting jobs. Along with filming New Moon and the next movie in the series, Eclipse, she has made The Runaways. She also was in the quirky Adventureland, released earlier this year.

The New Moon filming was the best distraction because it forced Stewart to go into a different acting direction. The first film was about finding true love, but New Moon is about her character, Bella, trying to rebound from lost love.

"What I really love about New Moon is you really see this girl build herself back up, and by the time she makes this rash decision to spend eternity with a vampire, she's in a position that you actually believe it," Stewart says. "You are old enough, you are mature enough to know. You've lived life. She grows up."