J.K. Rowling is speaking out for the first time since Emma Watson spoke on their strained relationship in a viral interview.
On the Wednesday, Sept. 24 episode of the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, the actress addressed her complicated relationship with the Harry Potter author, who has repeatedly come under fire for her views on the transgender community.
“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, means that I can’t and don’t treasure [J.K.] and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said. “I will never believe that one negates the other.”
She also said her “deepest wish” is for mutual love and respect to remain even when people disagree.
Nearly a week later, Rowling has a response of her own.
“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 twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days,” Rowling wrote via a lengthy X post. “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 [Daniel Radcliffe] 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,” she continued. “Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.”
Rowling admitted that having known Watson and her cast mates since they were 10-years-old, it’s “hard to shake a certain protectiveness” and “throw off the memory of children.” However, she criticized the actress for not reaching out to her amidst intense public scrutiny, and accused her of adding more fuel on the fire by speaking on the subject in interviews.
She also called the actress “privileged” as she has spent part of her adolescence and her entire adult life with wealth and fame.
“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,” the post concluded. “Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public – but I have the same right, and I’ve finally decided to exercise it.”
Rowling’s full statement can be read here.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.