Photo: Photo by Arnold Jerocki/GC Images
It’s been six years since Emma Watson promoted her last movie, 2019’s Little Women. But the 35-year-old is back on the press circuit talking about the perils of fame and, crucially, what happens when the woman responsible for your fame becomes a guns-blazing, vocal transphobe. On Wednesday, while sitting down with wellness coach Jay Shetty, Watson, who has repeatedly spoken out in support of trans rights, addressed the state of her relationship with Harry Potter author J.K. 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,” Watson told Shetty. “I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person … I just don’t think these things are either/or.”
She added, “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.”
Since 2020, J.K. Rowling has over and over again accused trans people of “cross-dressing” in order to harm cis women and perpetuated the dangerous myth that young trans kids will “grow out of their dysphoria.” When she first took up this stance publicly in 2020, Watson denounced Rowling’s views, writing on Twitter, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned.” Daniel Radcliffe, who played the titular Harry in the films, also responded to Rowling’s comments that year, writing via the Trevor Project: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
Radcliffe repeated a similar sentiment last year, shortly after Rowling insinuated on X that she held a grudge against him and Watson, criticizing “celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.” It seems Watson, at least, has more forgiveness in her heart than Rowling. The actress told Shetty she was “upset” that she had never had the chance to sit down with Rowling to work through their differences. But, she said, “I just don’t want to say anything that continues to weaponize a really toxic debate and conversation.”
Watson went on, “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.”
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