Harry Potter star Emma Watson has opened up about her rift with author J.K. Rowling in a recent interview.
Watson, who rose to fame with her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies from 2001 to 2011, had distanced herself from Rowling since 2020 due to their differing views on transgender issues.
During a sit-down interview on the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, Watson said that she could never cancel the author from her life despite their rift.
“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,” said Watson.
In 2020, after Rowling posted a series of tweets and a 3,600-word essay that many criticised as transphobic, Watson shared a brief statement voicing her support for the transgender community.
Watson, who has been on a seven-year hiatus from acting, also addressed her difficulties adjusting to Hollywood after Harry Potter.
“I was coming to those sets with an expectation that I had developed on Harry Potter, which was that the people I worked with were going to be my family, and that we were going to be lifelong friends,” she explained.
“I came to work looking for friendship. And that was a very painful experience for me, outside of Harry Potter and in Hollywood, bone-breakingly painful, because most people don’t come to those environments looking for friendships. They’re looking for: ‘This is my chance. This is my role. This is what I want out of it. I’m focused. This is my job. This is my career,” Watson continued.
In a previous interview, Watson had described the process of promoting a film as ‘soul-destroying’ for her.
Watson last appeared in the 2019 period drama film Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig.