Warning: This article contains discussion of LGBTQ+ discrimination which some readers may find upsetting
J. K. Rowling’s very public breakdown of her relationship with the Harry Potter Golden Trio has been reignited after Emma Watson said she still ‘cherished’ the author despite their opposing views on transgender rights.
On Thursday (September 25), 35-year-old Watson lifted the lid on the status of her friendship with Rowling, 60, following their fall-out in 2020.
Following the publication of an essay in which the Harry Potter writer made her mark as a gender-critical campaigner and questioned transgender rights, the actress made it clear that she stood with the LGBTQ+ community.
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“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned,” Watson wrote at the time.
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"I want my trans followers to know that I and so many people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are."
The pair has seemingly failed to reconcile, but Watson offered an olive branch during her recent appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast.
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She told the 38-year-old life coach that despite their opposing opinions, she just couldn’t ‘cancel’ Rowling.
"I really don't believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, means that I can't and don't treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” the Little Women star admitted.
“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don't get to keep and cherish, I come back to our earlier thing. Like I just don't think these things are either or.”
J. K. Rowling seemingly responds to Emma Watson’s new comments
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The Wizarding World creator has seemingly hit back at Watson in a new X post.
Re-sharing a rant she posted to the platform earlier this year, Rowling wrote: “A little reminder for anyone who may be regretting their very public sprint to the front of the mob and is now trying to discreetly shove their pitchfork out of sight.”
In a follow-up message, she reshared a video of a mocking Watson’s podcast interview and commented: “I'm here for ALL the spoofs.”
What Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have said about J. K. Rowling
Rowling’s relationship with Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, who played Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in all eight HP movies, respectively, is similarly fraught.
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Issuing a statement via the LGBTQ+ suicide-prevention group, the Trevor Project, Radcliffe said in 2020: “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.”
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In an interview with the Atlantic, the Broadway star admitted it would have felt like ‘immense cowardice’ for him not to say something against Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric.
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Grint, 37, became the third member of the Golden Trio to join the row.
He stated: "I firmly stand with the trans community. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”
Two years later, he said that he now thought of Rowling as more of an ‘aunt’ who he doesn’t necessarily ‘always agree with’.
J.K Rowling said she wouldn’t ‘forgive’ Harry Potter actors
Rowling’s apparent digs at Watson are not the first time that she’s called out the principal Harry Potter stars.
In April 2024, she said she was unlikely to forgive Watson, Radcliffe, and Grint for publicly opposing her views.
The comment came after she called the Cass review of gender identity services a ‘watershed’ moment.
This response prompted one fan to question whether she’d be forgiving Watson and Radcliffe if they apologised to her for comments they previously made.
“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,” she replied.
J. K. Rowling hit out at Harry Potter colleagues
Writing for The Times in May 2024, the author discussed her relationship with her former colleagues.
"People who’d worked with me rushed to distance themselves from me or to add their public condemnation of my blasphemous views (though I should add that many former and current colleagues have been staunchly supportive),” she explained.
“I’ve listened as certain female celebrities insist that there isn’t the slightest risk to women and girls in allowing any man who self-identifies as a woman to enter single-sex spaces reserved for women, including changing rooms, bathrooms or rape shelters.”
She added that the ‘condemnation of certain individuals’ was far less surprising than the fact some of her former colleagues allegedly emailed her to check that they were ‘still friends’.
“The thing is, those appalled by my position often fail to grasp how truly despicable I find theirs.”
J. K. Rowling throws shade at Golden Trio
In March 2025, Rowling seemed to take another swipe at Watson, Radcliffe, and Grint via social media.
She reposted a comment that read ‘What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’
The campaigner typed in reply: “Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.”
J.K. Rowling makes statement on new Harry Potter actors
Nick Frost and Paapa Essiedu, who will appear as Rubeus Hagrid and Severus Snape in the new HBO adaptation of Harry Potter, have both affirmed their stance on transgender rights.
Frost, 53, said to The Observer: “She’s allowed her opinion and I’m allowed mine – they just don’t align in any way, shape or form.”
Meanwhile, Essiedu, 35, was one of the hundreds of TV and film professionals who signed a letter calling for industry action on trans rights.
An insider told MailOnline at the time that Rowling would ‘not be bothered one iota by Essiedu’s decision – and wouldn’t dream of intervening to get him sacked, despite being heavily involved in the project’.
Rowling herself later wrote: “I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did.
“I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine."
Other Harry Potter stars who have called out J. K. Rowling’s views
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs, who starred as Lucius Malfoy in the original movies, said he had ‘complicated’ feelings about the author.
“There’s a bunch of stuff about Jo. You know, I play complicated people, I'm interested in complicated people. I don’t want to get drawn into the trans issues, talking about them, because it's such an extraordinary minefield,” the 62-year-old said to the Telegraph in 2022.
“She has her opinions, I have mine. They differ in many different areas."
Bonnie Wright
In 2020, Ginny Weasley actress Bonnie Wright, 34, wrote on X: “If Harry Potter was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite and there to take without judgment or question. Transwomen are Women. I see and love you, Bonnie.”
Eddie Redmayne
43-year-old Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne said in 2020 that he wholeheartedly ‘disagreed’ with Rowling’s comments.
“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand,” it read.
“I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse.
“They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
David Tennant
Doctor Who star David Tennant, 54, appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Barty Crouch Jr.
In April, he publicly stated: “JK Rowling is a wonderful author who’s created brilliant stories, and I wish her no ill will, but I hope that we can all as a society, just let people be. Just get out of people’s way.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]
Topics: JK Rowling, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, Celebrity, Social Media, LGBTQ
Ella Scott