Emma Watson has responded to the controversy that stemmed from a recent Vanity Fair photo shoot by saying: “I don’t know what my t**s have to do with [feminism].”

One image showed the Harry Potter star posing in a cut-out crochet open top and white lace skirt for British fashion photographer Tim Walker.

The photograph of Ms Watson, who is also a feminist campaigner and UN ambassador, prompted a mainly positive reaction on Twitter. Some, however, claimed the image was “hypocritical” given her feminist stance.

While promoting her new film Beauty and the Beast, she told the BBC: “Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women. It’s about freedom, its about liberation. It’s about equality.

“I don't know what my t**s have to do with it. It’s very confusing. Most people are confused. I’m always just kind of quietly stunned.

“They were saying that I couldn’t be a feminist and have boobs.”

Ms Watson, who appeared in the magazine to promote her upcoming film, graduated from Brown University in 2014 and became a global ambassador for the United Nations in July that year.