Emma Watson opens up about 'upsetting' JK Rowling rift over transgender rights

Emma Watson has addressed the "upsetting" rift with JK Rowling over transgender rights, saying she will still “cherish” their previous relationship despite the fallout.

The 35-year-old actor, who played Hermione Granger in eight Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011, recently appeared as a guest on Jay Shetty's podcast "On Purpose With Jay Shetty", where she shared her feelings about the Harry Potter author.

What caused the rift?

In 2020, Watson, along with her Harry Potter castmates, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, spoke out against Rowling's comments on transgender issues in recent years, where she was accused of transphobia, which Rowling has denied.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Watson stood in solidarity with the transgender community.

"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," the actress wrote.

In March, Rowling took the platform to respond to a post which asked: "What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?"

"Three guesses," the 59-year-old wrote. "Sorry, but that was irresistible," along with three sideways crying laughing emojis, seemingly in a dig towards the three actors.

Watson's latest comments

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Despite the fallout, Watson told Shetty she can still "treasure" Rowling.

“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," she explained.

“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish. To come back to our earlier thing – I just don’t think these things are either/or. I think 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 added, "I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible.”

Watson also praised Rowling's "kindness and words of encouragement" when she was a youngster.

"There's just no world in which I could ever cancel her out, or cancel that out, for anything," she said. "It has to remain true. It is true.

"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 or co-join themselves, and maybe accept that they never will, but that they can both still be true.

"And I can love her, I can know she loved me, I can be grateful to her, I can know the things that she said [about me] are true, and there can be this whole other thing.

"And my job feels like to just hold all of it. But the bigger thing is just, what she's done will never be taken away from me."

Has Rowling responded?

No, at least not directly.

But following Watson's interview, Rowling did take to X, on Thursday, where she wrote, "A little reminder for anyone who may be regretting their very public sprint to the front of the mob and is now trying to discreetly shove their pitchfork out of sight."

Elsewhere from Indy100, JK Rowling blasts Harry Potter actors for supporting trans rights, and Jay Shetty on relationship tricks and how to stop feeling disconnected.

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