Harry Potter author JK Rowling has responded to Emma Watson's recent comments on the pair's strained relationship.
Speaking during a podcast interview published last week, Watson struck a conciliatory tone as she distanced herself from those who wished to "cancel" Rowling, and said she no longer wanted to "weaponize a really toxic debate and conversation" around transgender issues, which Rowling has been at the center of.
Writing today on social media, Rowling issued a public response to Watson's remarks, discussed her changing relationship with the actress, and revealed a private apology previously issued by Watson at a time the author describes as the "peak" of threats made to her personal safety.
In a lengthy post, Rowling highlighted Watson's description of still being able to "love" the author despite holding "seemingly incompatible" views, with the actress' previous public comments that "poured more petrol" on the level of personal threats Rowling says she has experienced.
"I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points," Rowling wrote today, beginning by stating that while Watson was entitled to her views on "gender identity ideology," she believed that both Watson and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe had both "made it clear" they they felt an "obligation" to critique Rowling and her views in public.
"When you've known people since they were 10 years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness," Rowling said. "Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on [JK Rowing's own podcast series] the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said."
Rowling went on to contrast her own previous lack of comment with the brief public remark made by Watson while presenting a trophy at the 2022 BAFTA Awards, where the actress stated she was here for "all witches" — a comment widely seen as supportive of transgender rights, and an obvious reference to the Harry Potter franchise.
"In truth, that was a turning point for me," Rowling wrote. "Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness."
Addressing Watson's views on transgender issues specifically, Rowling suggested they originated from someone who had "never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame."
"Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is," Rowling continued, before saying the actress would likely never experience a long list of public mixed-sex settings — a typical discussion point in discussions surrounding transgender rights.
"I wasn't a multimillionaire at 14," Rowling wrote, contrasting her experience with that of Watson's own. "I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous... 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.
"Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it."
In a separate interview last week, Watson addressed her recent break from acting, and said she did not miss promoting movies — a process of "selling things" she found "quite soul-destroying."
Image credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images.
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