Actress Emma Watson says J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender propaganda are “really painful,” but added that there is “no world” in which she could ever “cancel” the “Harry Potter” author from her life.
While Watson did not specifically reference Rowling’s opinion on transgenderism, the actress touched upon her rift with the “Harry Potter” author, during a recent appearance on the On Purpose podcast, telling Jay Shetty that she still “treasures” Rowling “and the person that I had personal experiences with.”
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“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish,” Watson said. “I just don’t think these things are ‘either, or.’”
“It’s my deepest wish that 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,” she added.
The Little Women star also expressed an interest in being able to have an open dialogue with Rowling in the future.
“I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible,” Watson said, to which Shetty replied by asking, “So you remain open for that dialogue?”
“Yeah, and I always will,” Watson responded. “I believe in that completely. I just don’t want to say anything that, like, continues to weaponize a really, like, toxic debate and conversation, which is why I don’t comment or, like, continue to comment.”
“Not because I don’t care about her or about the issue, but because the way that the conversation is being had feels really painful to me,” the This Is the End actress added. “So, that’s why that decision.”
Watson went on to say that she will always remain grateful to Rowling for creating the Harry Potter character, Hermione Granger, adding that there is “no world in which I could ever cancel her out, or cancel that out.”
“Just, as a young woman, for her to have written that character, created that world, given me an opportunity — which, to be honest, barely exists in the history of English literature — there’s just no world in which I could ever cancel her out or cancel that out for anything,” she said.
“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,” Watson added.
The drama between Watson and Rowling transpired in 2020, after the “Harry Potter” author wrote an essay reaffirming her stance that one’s biological sex is both important and irreversible and should not be viewed merely as a social construct.
After Rowling’s essay was published, Watson, who starred in the film adaption of the author’s “Harry Potter” book, argued, “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.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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