Kristen Stewart’s work in the Twilight Saga films was hugely successful, but the actress claims she never worked too hard to satisfy the audience on her journey to the top.

The Twilight actress is the September issue’s cover girl, and she’s opened up about growing up in the spotlight, why she’ll never smile for a paparazzi shot, and what makes her want to “f**ing hang out and chat all day” with strangers.

“Now I feel like if I smiled for a paparazzi photo — not that I ever would — that’s exactly what people would be desecrating me for,” she told ELLE magazine, which features her on its September 2014 cover. “They’d be like, ‘now you’re going to give it up, now you’re a sellout.’ like, okay. What do you want? What would you like?”

Stewart appears on the cover in a beautiful picture shoot in which she is decked with huge chains and Chanel padlocks around her neck.

When asked about the moment she realized Twilight would be a success, she said: “The day the movie came out there was a picture of me – in the New York Post, I think. I was sitting on my front porch, smoking a pipe with my ex-boyfriend and dog. And I was like, ‘Oh shit, well, I have to be aware of that’.”

Since the end of the Twilight series, she has appeared in a number of indie dramas, including Camp X-Ray, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Anesthesia. She is currently filming the sci-fi romance drama Equals alongside Nicholas Hoult.

Stewart is looking forward to the next chapter now that she has completed the last one.

“Never at any point have I sat down and plotted how I should proceed from here on. As soon as you start thinking about your career as a trajectory — like, as if you’re going to miss out on some wave or momentum — then you’re never doing anything for yourself anyway,” she said. “Then you’re truly, actually, specifically working for the public. You’re turning yourself into a bag of chips.”

It’s one of Kristen’s most intriguing shots yet. However, wouldn’t it be great to see her smile every now and then?

ELLE magazine’s September issue will be released in select locations on August 12 and nationwide on August 19.