Kristen Stewart on Robert Pattinson: Our relationship became a product

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Kristen Stewart says the public turned her relationship with Robert Pattinson into a product.

The 26-year-old actress reflected on her high-profile romance with the 30-year-old actor in the Aug. 21 issue of T magazine while discussing her life in the spotlight.

"People wanted me and Rob to be together so badly that our relationship was made into a product. It wasn't real life anymore. And that was gross to me," the star admitted.

Stewart and Pattinson had quietly started dating after starring in the 2008 movie Twilight. The film and its sequels catapulted the pair to fame and generated constant interest in their real-life relationship.

"It's not that I want to hide who I am or hide anything I'm doing in my life. It's that I don't want to become a part of a story for entertainment value," the actress explained.

Media attention further skyrocketed after Stewart was photographed kissing Rupert Sanders, the married director of her movie Snow White and the Huntsman, in 2012. The actress issued a public apology to Pattinson, but the pair later broke up.

"The public kind of burned me at the stake," she told Marie Claire in 2015 of fan reaction to the scandal. "But that's okay, I can take it. I'm not dead."

"At one point, you just let go and give yourself to your life," the star added. "I have finally managed that and I get so much more out of life ... I've come out the other end not hardened but strong."

Stewart is presently dating Alicia Cargile and told T she loves the visual-effects specialist "so much." She shared similar sentiments in the September issue of Elle U.K., gushing, "Right now I'm just really in love with my girlfriend."