Emma Watson Addresses J.K. Rowling Relationship After Author Said She 'Ruined' the 'Harry Potter' Movies

Emma Watson addressed her strained relationship with J.K. Rowling and clarified where they stand amid the Harry Potter author’s controversial remarks.

“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,” Watson, 33, began in a complicated response during the Wednesday, September 24, episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast.

Watson is best known for her portrayal of Hermione Granger in all eight of the Harry Potter films, which debuted in theaters from 2001 to 2011. Her relationship with the author became estranged in 2020 after Rowling, 60, shared a 3,600-word essay that many criticized as transphobic, prompting the Beauty and the Beast actress to share a statement showing her support for the transgender community.

During the podcast, Watson was asked about Rowling’s public remarks that she’d “never forgive” the actress for her views and that Watson “ruined” the movies for her.

“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 to come back to our earlier thing,” the Harry Potter actress continued. “Like I just don't think these things are either or. I think it's my deepest wish that I, 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.”

Watson explained she was “most upset” that a conversation with Rowling was “never made possible.” When asked if she was open to speaking to Rowling, the England native replied, “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely.”

Watson has been on hiatus from Hollywood for several years, having not hit the big screen since wrapping production in 2018 for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaptation. The Colony star emphasized she’ll never “quit acting,” but she doesn’t feel the “urgency of needing to do it.”

“I think it's also why I've had to really navigate my relationship towards art and acting,” she explained. “Cause I'm pretty sure that I was using acting as a way of escaping how painful like, it wasn't just the divorce, it was just like the continuing situation of living between two different houses and two different lives and two different sets of values.”