J.K. Rowling has taken aim once again at “Harry Potter” actor Emma Watson amid their ongoing rift making headlines this month. The author wrote in a new post on X that Watson “has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” claiming that she once got a letter from Watson that allegedly showed sympathy towards the public backlash Rowling was enduring for sharing views on the trans community that Watson had already publicly disagreed with.
The rift between Rowling and Watson started in 2020 after the “Harry Potter” author began sharing views on the transgender community that many found to be transphobic. Watson joined “Harry Potter” co-stars like Daniel Radcliffe by publicly opposing Rowling, sharing in a statement at the time: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
In her new X post, Rowling said it is completely fine for Watson and Radcliffe to have opinions that do not align with her own. She explained: “I’m not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was 21 for what opinions I should hold these days. Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn’t want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.”
“However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right – nay, obligation – to critique me and my views in public,” Rowling continued. “Years after they finished acting in ‘Potter,’ they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.”
Watson and Rowling’s rift became a viral talking point this month after Watson spoke on the matter during a recent episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast. Rowling wrote in her X post that she had always turned down requests to comment on Watson in the past because “I didn’t want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.” That now changed given Watson’s interview with Jay Shetty, in which Watson said that she can still love her experience of working with Rowling on the “Harry Potter” movies while disagreeing with Rowling’s views on the trans community.
“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said. “I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish.”
According to Rowling, Watson once “asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence ‘I’m so sorry for what you’re going through’ (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family’s safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.”
“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life un-cushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” the author continued. “She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I’d be astounded if she’s been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into the women’s prison?”
“I wasn’t a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous,” Rowling added. “I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women’s rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges. The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me – a change of tack I suspect she’s adopted because she’s noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was – I might never have been this honest.”
Variety has reached out to Watson’s representative for comment.
After Watson, Radcliffe and other “Harry Potter” stars originally spoke out against her views, Rowling went on record saying she would “never forgive” them after they “cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights.” When Shetty asked Watson on the recent podcast episode if she remained open to having a dialogue with Rowling, Watson replied, “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely.”
Rowling originally reacted to Watson’s interview by sharing a parody video of it on X. Comedian IntelLady spoofed Watson’s interview, and Rowling praised the video and added in her caption: “I’m here for all the spoofs.”
