When Emma Watson addressed gender equality in her first major speech as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for women last September, she almost immediately received an online backlash from disgruntled internet trolls.

Emma Watson
Emma Watson taking part in a live Facebook Q&A on Sunday (March 8th)

While promoting her HeForShe equality campaign on International Women's Day in London during a live Facebook Q&A on Sunday (March 8th), the British actress opened up about hackers threatening to publish nude pictures of her on the web.

"There was a website set up that was threatening to release naked images of me, with like a countdown and whatever else," Watson said. "I knew it was a hoax. I knew the pictures didn't exist."

Watson is referring to a website called emmayouarenext.com that displayed a countdown to when the alleged racy images of the 'Harry Potter' star were going to be published online. The website turned out to be a rather strange PR stunt by Rantic.

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"A lot of people close to me knew gender equality was an issue but didn't think it was that urgent. You know, 'We live in Great Britain - this is a thing of the past. We're fine. We're good. We have got far enough,'" she continued. "When they saw that the minute I stepped up and talked about women's rights I was immediately threatened, I mean within less than 12 hours I was receiving threats."

Watson added, "I think they were really shocked and one of my brothers in particular was very upset."

As the spokesperson for the HeForShe campaign, the 24-year-old actress is trying to encourage as many men as possible to join the fight against gender inequality. Watson also stressed that little gestures are crucial in eradicating antifeminism and can have a huge impact.

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"I actually took a man out for dinner and I chose the restaurant and I offered to pay," Watson revealed. "It was really awkward and uncomfortable - I'm just going to say that. It was not going down well!"

"He was just like 'I'm not really sure about this.' It was making him a bit tetchy," she added. "But the cool thing about it was we were both willing to have the conversation about why it was awkward and why it was uncomfortable. We were able to have the dialogue 'It's OK. I chose the restaurant as it is my favorite restaurant and I would love to pay. But next time you chose the restaurant and you pay.'"