Kristen Stewart is thankful she's had her heart broken.

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart

The 26-year-old actress - who previously dated her 'Twilight Saga' co-star Robert Pattinson for five years and is now dating her assistant Alicia Cargile - would rather be able to feel sadness and learn from her pain than shut off all her emotions.

Asked if she's had her heart broken, she said: "Oh my Gog, yeah totally. I've been destroyed. Absolutely.

"And thank God I have too because I would not exchange feeling so much for feeling nothing at all.

"I think the worst that can happen to a person is when they start shutting their emotions down - and sometimes you can't blame them because crazy things do happen and you can never anticipate everything that is going to go down between two people.

"But what you must do is not regret or blame the past, but take responsibility for your own happiness, because if you're happy with yourself then you can be happy with someone else.

"It sounds really obvious, like I'm going to write a f***ing self-help book or something, but I Think the worst thing you can do is ignore the pain. You have to feel it and let yourself go, 'Ow that hurts.' "

The 'Cafe Society' actress is "obsessed" with other people and rues the fact her fame means she can't just sit and spy on others while out and about.

Discussing the downsides of fame to Hello! magazine, she said: "I guess I can't go to the mall any more, but I'm not super-sad about not going to the mall.

"Honestly, if I weren't famous I would probably just walk around and people-watch.

"I'd like to be able to stare at people without having them stare back at me because I do like to observe people. That's why I'm an actor. I'm obsessed with other people and why they do stuff."