Ex-Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon says she thinks JK Rowling feels ‘animosity’ towards her

Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she thinks Harry Potter author JK Rowling feels “animosity” towards her, but said it doesn’t go both ways.

In an interview with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall on their daily podcast “The News Agents“, Sturgeon opened up about her feelings towards JK Rowling. 

Trans ally Sturgeon, who served as the first minister of Scotland from 2014 to 2023, has continually voiced her support for trans rights. 

She first committed to reforming gender recognition laws ahead of the 2016 Scottish election. The bill was passed in December 2022. Speaking in the Scottish parliament shortly beforehand, Sturgeon said it would make trans people’s lives “that little bit better and easier”. 

Sturgeon, who revealed in her memoir Frankly that she doesn’t consider her own sexuality to be binary, was targeted by author JK Rowling after the passing of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

JK Rowling, who is well known for her gender-critical views, tweeted a photo of herself in October 2022 wearing a t-shirt that read: ‘Nicola Sturgeon: destroyer of women’s rights’.

“I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot [For Women Scotland] and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament. #NoToSelfID,” she wrote in the tweet.

‘I am not accusing her of anything’

Sturgeon told Maitlis that “concerns” about the gender recognition (“Self ID”) legislation, including those raised by Rowling, were “unfounded”

“I didn’t properly engage,” she said, adding: “When I realised it had become as divisive and polarised as it had, I should have paused and seen if we could find a different way of achieving the same outcome.”

JK Rowling has continued to criticise Nicola Sturgeon, including posting a scathing review of her memoir on her website, but the former first minister said she holds no hatred toward the author, adding that she believes Rowling has “every right” to disagree with her views.

“I don’t think that’s the same in reverse, but I am not accusing her of anything. 

“If I have an issue with how JK Rowling goes about this debate, it’s that there does seem – at times – to be an attempt to be gratuitously cruel to trans people and I don’t think that’s warranted,” she said 

She insisted: “The one thing I believe really strongly, and I’m not going to just kind of change my mind on this, is that women’s rights and trans rights are not irreconcilable.”

Sturgeon has also spoken out about the UK Supreme Court, which ruled in May 2025 that the definitions of “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological women only, stating that the ruling has been “massively over-interpreted.”