Kristen Stewart Explains Why She Never Smiles in Paparazzi Photos

— -- Kristen Stewart knows that she has a reputation for never smiling in paparazzi photos.

Don't expect her to change, though. Ever.

"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," the actress told Elle magazine. "They’d be like, 'Now you’re going to give it up! Now you’re a sellout.' Like, OK. What do you want? What would you like?"

Stewart, 24, first rose to fame with the "Twilight" franchise. At the time, she was dating her co-star, Robert Pattinson, and the two weren't necessarily prepared for becoming overnight celebrities.

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"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," she said. "And I was like, 'Oh s***. Well, I have to be aware of that."

With that chapter behind her, Stewart is looking forward to what's next.

"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."