Bonnie Wright is glad social media wasn't so widespread when she was a young star of the Harry Potter film franchise.

The Harry Potter actress played Ginny Weasley in all eight of the Harry Potter movies, with her role growing from a solitary scene in the first installment, to the main love interest of the title character, played by Daniel Radcliffe, by the end of the franchise in 2011.

And Bonnie, who was just nine-years-old when she first auditioned for the role of Ginny, feels growing up in the spotlight would have been far tougher had she had to deal with the pressures of social media.

I feel very lucky and pleased that when we were filming Harry Potter, social media didn't really exist," she tells Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "That was an incredibly lucky thing. I wasn't a nine-year-old with a Twitter account. I'm thankful."

Bonnie admits she felt bad enough dealing with teenage insecurities about her appearance in the press even before young stars became targets for abuse on social media.

"It's not fun when you're a teenager and experiencing those things," she explains. "You're growing into yourself and see photos of yourself like, 'oh God!' Especially when you're changing so much every year."

However the actress, who is now planning to move behind the camera and become a director having made several short films, says she's now more comfortable with her looks.

"Whether or not you're on the internet or your own personal world, that's a journey every woman goes through - that battle of not caring about your physical body," she adds. "It's not great having it across the internet, but it's a question of how much you want to distance yourself from it - that's what I've really learned."

Despite her desire to move behind the camera, Bonnie says she is open to returning to the Harry Potter franchise if a new film is made, adding, "With all things, never say never."