By JK Rowling has fired back at Emma Watson in the latest turn of their long-running clash over transgender rights, dismissing the actress’s conciliatory remarks and accusing her of undermining protections for women.
The 60-year-old author took to Twitter on Monday with a lengthy post directed at Watson, 35, who played Hermione Granger in the film versions of Rowling’s novels. Her response came just days after Watson, speaking on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast, reflected on their estrangement, wrote NBC News.
I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.
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
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 29, 2025
“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 host Jay Shetty. She added, “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.”
Rowling was unmoved. In a nearly 700-word statement to her 14.4 million followers, she acknowledged the actors’ rights but bristled at their criticisms. “Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology,” Rowling wrote. “Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn’t want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.”
She singled out Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, arguing they had used their connection to her to rebuke her views. “However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right — nay, obligation — to critique me and my views in public.”
Rowling added that she once shielded Watson from media intrusion, acting out of a sense of guardianship for the young cast. Now, she cast the actress as inexperienced and out of touch, saying Watson “has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is.”
Highlighting their different upbringings, Rowling contrasted her own years of hardship with Watson’s early wealth. “I wasn’t a multimillionaire at 14. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous,” she wrote. “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 public exchange is the latest flashpoint in a bitter feud that began after Rowling’s “controversial” statements about being a woman and transgenderism that the left has grown to hate. Watson and Radcliffe have both voiced strong support for transgender inclusion, parting ways with the author who created the world that made them stars.
Watson’s representatives have not commented. In 2024, Rowling challenged authorities to “arrest me” over her comments she’s made about transgenderism.
She wrote: “Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.”
She added: “It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.
“Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”
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