LOS ANGELES -- Kristen Stewart realizes what her life must look like from the outside.

"It's a show, a ridiculous show," says the 19-year-old Twilight star of the "soap opera" unfolding on a magazine cover near you.

In it, there's power, heartache, sex, greed, possibly a wedding, definitely a pregnancy (female or male or both) and, of course, most assuredly, Robert Pattinson, the angular British actor who hurtled to stardom as emo vampire Edward Cullen opposite Stewart's swooning mortal teen Bella Swan.

"The whole rumour/tabloid stuff -- it was so obviously false to me, even before I became a part of it," she says. "It doesn't bother me. I don't take it personally. Luckily, because I've had so much experience it's gotten easier to talk about the work."

This, too, is a new development. Not so long ago, to interview Stewart was to feel her pain. She could be inarticulate and tongue-tied. But after a year of media scrutiny, Stewart has adjusted. Now, she is assured and relaxed, fielding questions about the sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Even she senses the change in herself.

"I think I've gotten a lot more comfortable with talking about myself and knowing that what you say, people are really going to take into consideration. That always intimidated me so much that I minced every word that came out of my mouth. I couldn't finish a sentence because I was so concerned about how it was going to sound. I didn't want to come across insincere about something that I really love to do."

Opening Friday, New Moon is expected to exceed the $383 million its predecessor grossed worldwide a year ago. The producers and studio are so confident the third instalment, Eclipse, is already wrapped and scheduled for a June release.

As fans already know, the sequel begins with the abrupt end of the romance between Edward and Bella after she's almost attacked by another of the Cullen clan. In order to protect her from the predators they are, he has to leave -- or so he reasons. The development and heartbreak opens the door for Bella's platonic pal Jacob (Taylor Lautner) who happens to be a werewolf. Needless to say, the fur flies.

Stewart, for one, calls Edward and Bella's break-up "the most intimidating scene in the entire movie. That was the scariest thing. It's not even like a normal breakup scene. I know what's it like to get broken up with, but I don't know what it's like to get broken up with by a vampire by whom I've been physically and chemically altered.

"Suddenly you take an addict, you take whatever they're addicted to away from them, and there's withdrawal."

Addicted also describes many of the franchise's rabid fans, who already view Bella and Stewart as interchangeable. Adding to this are the constant rumours about Pattinson and Stewart's relationship. (A recent Time magazine article suggests they are an item, which raises the question: Why does Time magazine care? But never mind.)

"I totally understand why people have a hard time separating ourselves from our characters," Stewart says. "It's also just sort of the way our world is going. People are obsessed. There's an incredibly large group of people that spend most of their time considering other people's lives. It's strange to me."

Even if she can understand why fans identify with a character of which she says she's grown protective. "We're playing characters that are so coveted by so many people, so I get why they want to know more about us and they want us to be together and all of that."

Still, she has no regrets. "There's already a lot of stuff that I have to say, 'OK, Kristen, be here. Experience it. Make sure that this isn't another fleeting situation that you're going to barely remember.' I've had the coolest two years and I'm so lucky."

Jett role requires more than just winging it

Kristen Stewart wanted to know Joan Jett from more than just a bad reputation.

The Twilight actress is playing the rock icon in a movie based on the all-girl group The Runaways that should be out next year.

"I got to know Joan not only as her now, but I feel like through footage and just through the script and the story," says Stewart, who shot the biopic between New Moon and Eclipse.

"I feel like I got to know who she was in such a whole way that it's not about imitating (her), even though I was really concerned about details being right -- gestures and stuff. I really wanted to do a good impersonation but I also didn't want it to be imitation. I wanted it to be natural."

Stewart's New Moon co-star Dakota Fanning, who cameos as a cruel telepathic vampire enforcer in the sequel, co-stars in the Jett biopic as singer Cherie Curie.