JK Rowling tears into Emma Watson, calling her ‘ignorant’ and ‘cushioned by wealth and fame’
JK Rowling has responded to Emma Watson’s comments about their relationship. (Getty)
JK Rowling has responded to Emma Watson's comments about their relationship. (Getty)
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has released a lengthy statement on X, in which she levels several paragraphs of criticism at former child star Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the original film series.
Last week, during an interview with podcaster Jay Shetty, Watson addressed the difference in views between herself and Rowling when it came to transgender rights.
Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film adaptations of Rowling’s Harry Potter stories, said a conversation with the author about trans equality was “never made possible” but she still hoped that she could “keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with”.
In response, JK Rowling wrote a long post on X, slamming Emma Watson’s comments in the podcast interview.
In it, she accuses Watson of having never experienced “adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame,” adding that “Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is. She’ll never need a homeless shelter, she’s never going to be placed on a mixed-sex public hospital ward. I’d be astounded if she’s been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door.”
Some of JK Rowling’s comments seem to contrast with Emma Watson’s actual real-life experiences. In 2009 she began attending Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She also studied for a year at the University of Oxford. Watson graduated from Brown in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Brown, notably, has gender-inclusive restrooms and facilities. She’s also regularly been pictured shopping in high street stores.
Rowling continued: “I wasn’t a multimillionaire at fourteen. 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.
“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.”
I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 29, 2025
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… https://t.co/c0pz19P7jc
A few days before her statement, which was shared on 29 September, Rowling responded indirectly by sharing a clip from YouTube satirist Intel Lady, which mocked Watson’s remarks.
“I’m already missing @intel_lady’s Angela Rayner [spoof] but I’m here for all the spoofs,” Rowling wrote on X/Twitter, alongside a laughing emoji.
Rowling also appeared to address the fact that Watson’s comments had been met with criticism from some pro-trans social media users, who criticised the star for saying that she hoped to “keep loving” the author, even in the face of her views on the transgender community.
Seemingly agreeing with an article in British magazine The Critic, which had the headline: “The gender fanatics are never satisfied”, Rowling wrote: “It’s quite extraordinary how many people think a crocodile will be so grateful you’ve fed it red meat for years that it’ll let you stroll away unharmed when you decide you want a break.”
In 2020, after Rowling had published her infamous “TERF Wars” essay, outlining her “concerns” with trans rights activism, Watson wrote on X: “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.”
Last year, Rowling said she would not “forgive” Watson or her co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for voicing support for the trans community.
Speaking to Shetty, Watson said: “I really don’t believe that… holding the love and support and views that I [do], means I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person [who] I had personal experiences with. I will never believe that one negates the other.
“It’s my deepest wish that 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 was “most upset” about the fact that a conversation with Rowling “was never made possible” but insisted that she remained open to speaking to the author, who also writes crime fiction under the pen-name Robert Galbraith.
During her conversation with Shetty, Watson also addressed a wide range of other topics, including her support for Palestine and why she stepped away from acting after playing Meg March in 2019’s Little Women.
