Emma Watson has broken her silence on the tense relationship she shares with Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling.
Rowling has caused a lot of controversy
J.K. Rowling has caused some controversy in recent years, having shown her commitment to funding anti-trans causes in the UK.
She’s spoken about this on multiple occasions, and even showed her support of a case that made it to the Supreme Court that successfully argued trans women should not be legally considered women.
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Watson seemed to respond to this at the time
Though Emma Watson didn’t directly name Rowling, she made a post on the human rights topic shortly after Rowling published a long post about trans people in 2020.
Watson wrote at the time, “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.”
Watson recently addressed the tension
Now, in a recent appearance on Jay Shetty’s podcast, Watson was asked about Rowling’s comments on her.
The host asked about remarks like Rowling’s implication that Watson’s presence in a movie ‘instantly ruins’ it, or that she wouldn’t ‘forgive’ her.
Watson had a response to the matter
The Little Women actress replied, “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 had personal experiences with.”
She doesn’t think ‘one negates the other’
Watson went on, “I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish,” adding, “I just don’t think these things are either-or.”
She loves her despite the difference in ‘opinion’
Watson explained, “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.”
“I really do believe in having conversations and that those are really important,” she went on.
Watson finds the situation ‘frustrating’
“I guess where I’ve landed is it’s not so much what we say or what we believe, but very often how we say it that’s really important. That’s really frustrating and not what you want to hear when you’re really angry and upset with someone,” she said.
“I just see this world right now where we seem to be giving permission for this throwing out of people, or that people are disposable.”
She doesn’t see her as ‘disposable’
Watson added, “I believe that no one is disposable, and everyone, as far as possible, whatever the conversation is, should and can be treated with, at the very least, dignity and respect.”
“I think the thing that I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible. I always will [remain open].”
Watson is worried about commenting
“I just don’t want to say anything that continues to weaponize a really toxic debate and conversation, which is why I don’t comment or continue to comment,” the actress continued.
“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.”
She refuses to ‘cancel her out’
Watson added, “As a young woman, for her to have written that character and 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.”
