Tom Felton’s Real Crush Wasn’t Emma Watson — It Was the 2000s Icon Everyone Was Obsessed With

File this under: fun celebrity-crush lore that actually tells you a bit about the people involved. Tom Felton may forever be tied to Emma Watson in fans' minds because of her school-era crush, but the guy who played Draco (and later showed up on The CW's The Flash) had his eyes elsewhere back in the day.

Felton's first big crush was not Hermione

In a 2009 chat with Seventeen, Felton said his first celebrity crush was Megan Fox. This was peak Transformers era, right before Jennifer's Body turned her into a cult icon. He admitted he was basically hypnotized by all those glossy blockbuster images, thought she looked stunning on red carpets and in photos, and even joked he was lucky his then-girlfriend was not around to hear him gush. Honestly, that tracks for 2009. A lot of people were right there with him.

• 2009: Tells Seventeen his first celeb crush is Megan Fox, thanks to Transformers-era ubiquity.
• Later: Reveals he also nursed a crush on a Harry Potter co-star, Helena Bonham Carter (via Metro/Daily Express), who played his on-screen aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

The Helena chapter: admiration with a little crush baked in

Felton has said he developed a crush on Helena Bonham Carter while they were making the Potter films. Not exactly shocking: she is a force of nature. He has described her as one-of-one, stylish in vintage pieces, playful and affectionate off-camera, and then absolutely feral the second the cameras roll. That whiplash between sweetheart and nightmare aunt? Watching it up close clearly made an impression. To hear him tell it to The Standard, he admired the person as much as the performer.

Meanwhile, Megan Fox was dealing with the downside of becoming 'the' global crush

Fox becoming everyone’s screensaver came at a price. At a special Jennifer's Body screening years later (as covered by People), she said that the immediate post-Transformers period left her feeling totally unmoored. The industry put her in a box, the paparazzi were brutal, and she was just trying to do the job while getting shouted at on sidewalks.

"I think where I was at that point in my life, so lost, so full of that rage that I had towards how I had been treated in the industry... I just left a premiere for something where I had to go — I was obligated to go — and I remember the paparazzi were so ruthless back then — the way they would talk to women. I walked out just to try to get to my car, and they are all shooting. One guy is like, 'Megan, why are you such a b*tch?' And another guy is like, 'Megan, do you think you are overrated? The internet says so,' and I am just trying to do my job."

So the timeline is kind of ironic: while Felton was out there praising Fox like half the planet, she was trying to claw her way out of a label she never asked for. And on the Potter set, he had a softer spot for a very different kind of star in Bonham Carter — older, fearless, and impossible to look away from. If there’s a pattern, it’s that Felton gravitates toward women with presence. Not the worst taste to have.