Emma Watson has insisted she still ‘treasures’ J.K. Rowling despite their different views on trans rights as she seemingly made a screeching U-turn on her opinion on the Harry Potter author.

The Hermione Granger star, 35, has previously hit out at J.K. Rowling and relations between the creator of multi-billion-pound movie franchise and its actors have been notably frosty for years.

Last year Rowling publicly stated that she could not ‘forgive’ Emma and Daniel Radcliffe or other celebrities who ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’.

Now, during an appearance on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Emma has admitted that while she strongly supports trans rights, she still holds space for the woman who played such an important role in her life.

Emma said: ‘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, that I had personal experiences with.

‘I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish to come back to our earlier thing. Like I just don’t think these things are either or.

Emma Watson has admitted she still ‘treasures’ J.K. Rowling despite their different views on trans rights

The Harry Potter star, 35, who played Hermione Granger in the movie franchise, has previously hit out at J.K. Rowling and relations between the author and actors have been frosty for years (J.K. Rowling with actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson pictured)

‘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.’

J.K. Rowling comments were made following the publication of the long-awaited Cass report into gender treatment in the UK, which recommended that changes should be made to the way young people are advised and puberty blockers should no longer be prescribed.

Rowling hit out at stars who use their ‘platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors’ and said people who supported gender transitioning in children should apologise to ‘traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces’.

The writer has been vocal in her opposition of allowing children to change their gender, while Radcliffe and Watson have been outspoken in their support of the trans community.

Emma went on to discuss feeling ‘broken’ by Hollywood, and believed that the experience she had on the Harry Potter set she would have through out her career.

She said: ‘I was coming to those sets with an expectation that I think I had developed on Harry Potter, which was that we were, the people I worked with were going to be my family, and that we were going to be lifelong friends. 

‘I came to work looking for friendship, and that was a very painful experience for me. Outside of Harry Potter and in Hollywood, like, bone breaking, really painful, um, 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. Like, let’s go. And I was not of that mindset. And so I found the rejection really painful. 

Last year Rowling publicly stated that she could not ‘forgive’ Emma and Daniel Radcliffe or other celebrities who ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’

‘I think it was so unusual to make a set of films for 12 years and we were a community. Like we, we really were. And so I took that as an expectation into my other workplaces. And I just got my ass kicked. I really did. It, yeah, it broke me.’   

Elsewhere, Emma blamed her movie star lifestyle for her driving ban.

Emma received a six-month driving ban in July after speeding at 38mph in a 30mph zone. She already had nine points on her licence before the offence, which took place in Oxford.

The actress explained how her penalty points started racking up after she became a student at Oxford University in 2023 and had to start driving herself everywhere, after years of being driven to movie sets.

Emma, who also revealed that she has taken up cycling since the disqualification, admitted she has found it ‘humbling’ that she can’t do ‘basic life things’.

She told the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast: ‘But I think again it’s funny, like I went from, when you work on movies – I don’t know if people know this – but they literally won’t insure you to drive yourself to work.

‘I’ve asked so many times, you have to be driven, it’s not a choice.

‘And especially because they need you there down to the minute basically depending on what they have going on.

‘And so I went from basically only driving myself on weekends or during a holiday to then when I became a student driving myself all the time.

‘And yeah, I did not have the experience or skills, clearly, which I now will and do but I think again this is one of the awkward transitions I made from kind of living this very very structured life to living a life where I was like, “Ok, I guess I’m going to get myself to this place”.

‘And I would do this thing that I’ve basically not done since I was 10 years old.

‘So it’s been a discovery and a journey that’s been yeah, I guess, humbling, because on a movie set I’m able to do all these extremely complex things – stunts, sing, dance, like “Do this thing, do that, whatever” and I’m like “Yep, don’t worry about it guys, no worries, I’ve got you”.

The Harry Potter star received a six-month driving ban in July after driving at 38mph in a 30mph zone (pictured in 2023)

‘And then I get home and I’m like, ‘Ok, Emma, you seem unable to remember keys, money, or to like keep yourself at 30 miles an hour in a 30 mile speed limit. Like, you don’t seem able to do some pretty basic life things’.

‘I had days where I just wanted to turn around to people and be like “I used to be good at things, ok, I used to be really good at things. I know it doesn’t look like that now, but.., I can do things normally”.

‘So, yeah, it’s been humbling.’

Emma has not acted in a film since December 2018, when she finished working on Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaptation.

She rose to fame aged 10 starring as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series.

On her new hobby, she said: ‘I recently started riding a bicycle and, yes, I started riding a bicycle before my driving ban.

‘But now it’s particularly fortuitous that I also ride a bicycle for that reason.’

Speaking about the news breaking about her ban, she said: ‘Oh my God, I was getting phone calls, like it’s on the BBC, it’s on international worldwide news.

‘I was like, my shame is everywhere.

‘In a funny way the sweetest result of it was getting so many messages from people being like “Happened to me too – I feel you, this is awful, it sucks” which was kind of nice in a way.’