Emma Watson has confirmed that her relationship with J.K. Rowling has been fractured for several years, stemming from their opposing views on transgender rights.
Speaking with life coach and podcast host Jay Shetty, Watson stopped short of directly naming Rowling’s 2020 essay on sex and gender, but acknowledged that the topic has long been a point of conflict. That essay prompted Watson to post on social media that “trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned.”
Since then, Rowling has maintained increasingly hardline views in public statements and on social media. She has rejected the use of gender-affirming pronouns, referred to some trans women as “crossdressers,” and criticized Harry Potter actors who expressed support for transgender people, accusing them of aligning with a movement she believes undermines women’s rights.
Watson said she still values the years she shared with Rowling while working on the Harry Potter films but admitted the fallout has been painful. “It’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with,” she told Shetty.
The actress added she regrets that no direct conversation ever took place between them. “I was upset that a conversation was never made possible,” she said. “I don’t want to say anything that continues to weaponize a really toxic debate and conversation.”
Watson stressed that her reluctance to comment further is not due to indifference, but because she finds the public discourse exhausting and harmful. Still, she emphasized her gratitude to Rowling for creating the character of Hermione Granger, saying she could never erase the impact the author and the books had on her life.
“I just don’t know what else to do other than hold these two seemingly incompatible things together at the same time and just hope maybe they will one day resolve,” she said.
