Dakota Fanning Opens Up About An ‘Uncomfortable’ Fan Encounter

Many remember Dakota Fanning for her childhood roles in Uptown Girls, War of the Worlds, and Man on Fire. But now that she’s 20, Fanning is opening up about being a former childhood star and how invasive people can be when they see her.

During an interview with Town & Country, Fanning recalled an incident in which she was having breakfast at a restaurant and a random stranger came up to her and sat next to her at her booth. Blocking her in, Fanning remembered the woman asking, “Are you her? Or do you just look like her?” And Fanning said she is a “very personal-space person.”

“I’m eating my pancakes, and I say something like, ‘Uh, I am her?’ I’m thinking, ‘Will you just get up? I will say whatever you want!'”

Even though Dakota Fanning described the situation as “uncomfortable,” and she could “never, ever imagine doing that” herself, she finds the experience “very interesting.”

“Who is the person who would come and sit in a stranger’s booth? That is very interesting to me.”

Dakota Fanning shot to stardom in 2001, when she won an award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her role in I Am Sam. Fanning also received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for the role, according to a report from Jam! Showbiz. When people see her now, it’s almost like they treat her as part of their family. Many have made the comment, “You’re so tall!” to which the five-foot-four Fanning rolls her eyes.

“Actually, I’m not even that tall. But compared to a child, I am! I feel as if one day I’m going to be married and pregnant and people will still be saying, ‘Oh my god, you’re so tall!'”

Dakota Fanning also mentioned that when people say “hello” to her on the street, she has to think about whether or not she knows the person. She then realizes she doesn’t, but Fanning said that, aside from that one encounter, her fans are generous.

“For the most part, people are nice and respectful.”

And while she is “super happy” that people enjoyed watched her grow up in her film and television roles, Dakota Fanning also believes that people feel like they have some kind of “ownership” of her, which she finds “difficult.”

“Because it’s not real; it’s in their minds.”

In a related report from The Inquisitr, Dakota Fanning has a boyfriend, and he is 32-year-old model Jamie Strachan. While she doesn’t really discuss her dating life, Fanning admitted that Strachan is her first boyfriend.

“I don’t really date. I have a weird vision of relationships because my parents have known each other since second grade, and they got married right out of college. I’ve always thought that’s what it’s supposed to be like, and if it’s not, then I don’t want to waste my time on it.”

Even when she was a teenager, Dakota Fanning thought that if she wasn’t going to marry the person, there was no point in dating him.

“It’s not me being naive. I just know what it’s supposed to be like. And I think until I feel that, I cannot be bothered.”

[Featured image credit: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP via Yahoo]

[Inline image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images via ABC News]