JK Rowling has revealed Emma Watson gave her a one-line note saying ‘I’m sorry for what you’re going through’ while the author was being hounded by death threats over her stance on trans rights.
In a furious broadside, the Harry Potter writer today accused the actress of ‘pouring petrol on the flames’ at the height of her abuse after criticising Ms Rowling’s public condemnation of the transgender movement.
In an unprecedented critique of the 35-year-old star, who played Hermione Granger in the film series which netted her an estimated £42million, Ms Rowling claimed she was ‘ignorant of how ignorant she is’ and had been blinded by her wealth and fame.
The writer’s stinging attack followed Ms Watson’s appearance on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, in which the actress said she ‘treasured’ the author – and blamed her movie star lifestyle for her recent driving ban for speeding.
Writing on X, the 60-year-old fantasy novelist dismissed Ms Watson’s comments and instead accused the Hollywood A-lister of ‘cosying up’ to a movement that ‘regularly calls for a friend’s assassination’.
Revealing the star’s note to her for the first time, Ms Rowling raged: ‘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.’
JK Rowling with Emma Watson at the world premiere of Deathly Hallows in 2011
Ms Rowling said she had long felt ‘protective’ over the former child star (pictured in 2002)
Ms Watson and Ms Rowling have been locked in a bitter feud since 2020 over their differing views on trans rights, with the Harry Potter creator having now become one of the most prominent gender-critical voices.
Speaking last week, Ms Watson – who has an estimated net worth of more than £63million – told Jay Shetty’s podcast she still ‘treasured’ the author who helped garner her fame.
The actress claimed it was her ‘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 she was ‘upset’ to have never been able to discuss the issue personally with Rowling, and said she would always ‘keep and cherish’ her time with the novelist.
But she also appeared to take a swipe over the impact her lucrative film star career had taken on her life, after being cast as the brainy witch in the big screen adaptation of Ms Rowling’s beloved magical saga.
In July, the actress received a six-month driving ban after speeding at 38mph in a 30mph zone. She already had nine points on her licence before the offence, which took place in Oxford.
But on the podcast, she blamed her penalty points on the fact she had spent years being driven around movie sets growing up and was then forced into driving herself to places when she became a student at the University of Oxford in 2023.
‘I went from basically only driving myself on weekends or during a holiday to then when I became a student driving myself all the time… I did not have the experience or skills,’ she said.
Ms Watson is now living in a nine-bedroom mansion in Jericho, Oxford’s affluent enclave known for its pastel-coloured Victorian terraces and bohemian vibe. The luxury bolthole is said to have its own sauna and jacuzzi and boasts its own Snoopy flag.
Ms Rowling has previously vowed to ‘never forgive’ Ms Watson or her Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for having ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’.
Ms Watson is now living in a nine-bedroom mansion in Jericho, Oxford’s affluent enclave known for its pastel-coloured Victorian terraces and bohemian vibe
Ms Watson and Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
But she has never previously made such a personal criticism of the woman she made famous.
In a statement this morning, Ms Rowling said the trio had ‘every right to embrace gender identity ideology’ but attacked them for using their links to Harry Potter to serve as ‘de facto spokespeople’ for the ‘world I created’.
Ms Rowling then focused her fire on Ms Watson by suggesting her views on trans rights were due to her lack of experience of ‘real life’.
She raged: ‘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.’
Ms Rowling went on to claim that Ms Watson’s recent claim that she still ‘treasures’ her was a cynical attempt to shift her stance after realising ‘full-throated condemnation of me is not as fashionable as it once was’.
Ms Rowling, 60, said she had felt compelled to go on the record following Ms Watson’s comments last week.
Speaking to On Purpose with Jay Shetty, the actress said her support for trans rights did not mean she had turned against the woman who shaped her life.
Ms Watson said: ‘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, that I had personal experiences with.’
Ms Rowling insisted she did not expect Ms Watson, Mr Radcliffe or Mr Grint to agree with her on everything and they ‘have every right to embrace gender identity ideology’.
Ms Watson blamed her film star career for her speeding ban, saying she had grown up being driven around movie sets before being forced to drive herself at university (pictured in 2023)
But she added: ‘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.’
Continuing her statement, Ms Rowling said she had found it ‘hard to shake’ a feeling of ‘protectiveness’ for people she had first met as child actors.
But she said Ms Watson’s declaration in a speech at the 2022 Baftas that she was ‘here for all the witches’ – which was widely interpreted as a dig against her gender critical views – had prompted a change of heart.
‘For the past few years, I’ve repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on 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. The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma’s ‘all witches’ speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself.
‘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.’
In by far her most personal criticism yet, Ms Rowling suggested the actress had been blinded by wealth and privilege.
‘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.
‘She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I’d be astounded if she’s been in a high street changing room since childhood.
‘Her ”public bathroom” is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool?
Ms Rowling posted a long statement on X this morning
‘Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into the women’s prison?
‘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.’
The author suggested she might never have made her comments if it hadn’t been for Ms Watson’s decision to speak about her last week.
‘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.’
Ms Rowling has received an outpouring of support following her post on X today.
One person wrote: ‘ I feel proud of you for standing up and voicing so clearly and unequivocally the affrontery, insult, hurt, and subdued anger most of us have felt at the hands of people we were once close to. You expressed it for all of us perfectly.’
Another added: ‘I’m really disappointed to see Emma behaving like this. In my view, she and the other cast members should feel lasting gratitude to J.K. Rowling for creating the Harry Potter world that launched their careers and made their current lifestyles possible.’
Ms Rowling has received an outpouring of support following her post on X today
While a third added: ‘After all this time? JK Rowling can still write poetically and cut through to the deepest layers and make us feel what she’s feeling? Always.
Over the weekend, Ms Rowling shared a parody video where a woman posing as Ms Watson shared a ‘satirical take on her words towards Rowling’.
In the clip, the fake Ms Watson said: ‘I will always hold space for her and so much love in my heart for her, and I would hope that she felt the same way about me.
‘But also I stand shoulder to shoulder with those who would wish harm on her, hate her and would wish the absolute worst for her in her life.
‘But those seemingly incompatible, those two things can exist at the same time, which is why I love this incredibly diverse world that we live in…’
Relations between Ms Rowling and the former Harry Potter child stars have been frosty for years.
The author has been vocal in criticising transgender women to use female-only spaces, while the actors have each commented in opposition to her views on the issue, while expressing their gratitude for her role in their careers.
She has previously hit out at stars who use their ‘platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors’ and said people who supported gender transitioning in children should apologise to ‘traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces’.
She appeared to aim a jibe at them in April, when sharing on her X account a response to another user who asked: ‘What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’
The writer responded: ‘Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.’
Ms Rowling claims to have been vindicated by the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year that the words ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not acquired gender.
She wrote on X at the time: ‘Trans people have lost zero rights today, although I don’t doubt some (not all) will be furious that the Supreme Court upheld women’s sex-based rights.’
Daily Mail has approached Ms Watson’s representatives for comment.
