JK Rowling shares handwritten note Emma Watson sent her containing one sentence that changed relationship
JK Rowling has revealed the handwritten note sent by Emma Watson that apparently changed their relationship.
The Harry Potter author shared a lengthy response on X this morning (29 September) following the Hermione actor's recent interview.
With Rowling previously saying Watson and Daniel Radcliffe could 'save their apologies', the actor said she still will 'treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with'.
The rift between the creator and Potter stars came as controversy arose over the author's comments about the transgender community, as she is frequently accused of transphobia.
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Watson has now said she's open to having a discussion with Rowling as she said during an appearance on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty Podcast: "I think 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."
However, somewhat unsurprisingly, Rowling wanted to 'make a couple of points' on X today with a lengthy post as she 'finally decided to exercise' her right to 'disagree' and 'discuss her feelings' about Watson in public.
"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 hold these days," she began.
"Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. 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 then went on to suggest that Watson and Radcliffe seem to think their 'former professional association gives them a particular right' to 'critique' Rowling and her views.
"When you've known people since they were ten years old, it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness," Rowling continued. "Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio.
"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."
Rowling then went on to claim: "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."
And she then followed with the rest of her rant about Watson: "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? 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 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."
LADbible Group has contacted Watson's reps for comment.
Topics: JK Rowling, Emma Watson, Harry Potter, Social Media, Celebrity
Jess Battison