Emma Watson always thought love had to be tragic and painful.

The 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' actress has been dating Will Adamowicz for almost a year and she says it was a revelation to her to discover being in love didn't have to be an emotional roller-coaster.

She said: ''When I started dating I had this kind of 'Romeo and Juliet', fateful romantic idea about love which was almost that you were a victim and there was a lot of pain involved and that was how it should be.

''Shakespeare said the course of true love never did run smooth, and I had this sense that it had to be painful. It was such a revelation in 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' to realise that it shouldn't be that way and that you get to choose who you love and who you decide to give your heart to.

''It sounds like a cliche but I also learnt that you're not going to fall for the right person until you really love yourself and feel good about how you are. Well, that was revelatory to me.''

The 22-year-old screen beauty - who shot to fame as a child star in the 'Harry Potter' movies - has had an interesting life so far and varied successes with her dating decisions, but she doesn't regret anything that has happened to her.

Emma - who has previously dated actor Johnny Simmons, rocker George Craig and financier Joel Barrymore - told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: ''Everything is a journey and the sad thing is you only learn from experience, so as much as someone can tell you things, you have to go out there and make your own mistakes in order to learn.''