She's ignorant of how ignorant she is: JK Rowling on Emma Watson over trans rights row

Los Angeles: "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling penned a lengthy note on X to address her rift with Emma Watson on Monday, saying the actor cannot go on criticising her publicly and then hope for reconciliation.

Watson played the role of Hermione in the film adaptations of the "Harry Potter" books alongside Daniel Radcliffe who payed Harry and Rupert Grint who played Ron.

The rift between the two began in 2020 when the author shared her views on the trans community which many deemed to be extremely transphobic. Following this, Watson and her "Harry Potter" co-stars publicly opposed Rowling in a public statement.

Watson and Rowling’s rift came up in the headlines again this month after the actor addressed the controversy in recent episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast and said she still loves and treasures the author.

Now Rowling has responded with her own statement and called her "ignorant".

"Like other people who've 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," the author wrote on X.

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

Rowling began by saying that she is not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character that she created and Watson and "Harry Potter" stars have every right to embrace their gender identity ideology. The author, however, said they shouldn't act like spokespersons for the world she created.

"... 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. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created," she wrote.

Rowling said since she worked with the actors when they were really young, she feels a certain "protectiveness" for them and has often declined to comment on them but what hurt her was that the actor asked someone to pass on a handwritten note to her with the sentence: 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' when she was facing threats.

The author said when she was going through a bad period for her comments, Watson poured more petrol on the flames.

"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," she wrote.

The author explained that "had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures her", she wouldn't have commented publicly.

"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," she added.