JK Rowling addresses rift with Emma Watson over transgender rights

JK Rowling replied after Emma Watson made friendly comments in a podcast released Wednesday about their relationship, which has had disagreements for years over transgender rights.

On Monday, the British author shared a response of almost 700 words with her 14.4 million followers on X, talking about Emma’s recent comments about their ongoing conflict.

Rowling wrote, "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."

She then focused on Watson and her Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe for publicly criticizing the author’s views.

The 60-year-old added, "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 said that until recently, she felt “a certain protectiveness” toward Watson and her co-stars, who she has known since they were ten years old, and said she has “repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically.”

The author said the Little Women star “has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is.”

Rowling later compared her own poor background to Watson’s “privileges.”

The mother-of-three expressed, "I wasn’t a multimillionaire at 14. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous, 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."

Rowling’s comments on X came after the 35-year-old star talked about her feelings toward Rowling in an interview for the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, which was posted on Wednesday.

When Shetty asked how she’s handling Rowling’s “extremely hurtful” comments after their public split over transgender issues.

Watson said she still values their relationship, “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.”

The Bling Ring alum added that she hopes “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.”

For the unversed, Emma Watson and J.K. Rowling’s feud centers around the author’s views on transgender rights which the American actress and other Harry Potter stars, like Daniel Radcliffe, have publicly criticized.