Harry Potter author JK Rowling has launched a fierce attack on Emma Watson, declaring the actress is "ignorant of how ignorant she is" in a lengthy statement posted on X.
Ms Rowling revealed Ms Watson sent her a single-sentence handwritten note saying "I'm so sorry for what you're going through" during a period when the author faced death, rape, and torture threats.
The pair have been embroiled in a public feud spanning over half a decade after the author began to publicly defend biological women's spaces. She's faced relentless abuse from trans rights activists ever since.
The author claimed Ms Watson had "publicly poured more petrol on the flames" with her statements at the time before sending the brief message, despite having Ms Rowling's phone number.
JK Rowling has been publicly cut off by the main stars of Harry Potter
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Ms Rowling's statement emerged after Ms Watson spoke on Jay Shetty's podcast earlier this week about their relationship, expressing that she continues to "treasure" the author despite their opposing views on transgender issues.
Ms Watson addressed their fractured relationship during the podcast interview, stating she doesn't believe her support for transgender rights negates her personal experiences with Rowling.
"I really don't believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have means that I can't and don't treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with," Ms Watson said at the time.
The actress, who portrayed Hermione Granger throughout the film franchise from 2001 to 2011, expressed hope that people with differing opinions could maintain mutual affection.
Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint shot to fame in Rowling's Harry Potter films
| PA"It's my deepest wish that people who don't agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people whom I don't necessarily share the same opinion with," she said during the interview.
Ms Rowling doesn't appear to reciprocate Ms Watson's hopes. She began her statement by asserting she isn't "owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created," comparing it to consulting a former employer about current opinions.
Her statement in full, which was shared in response to a debate on GB News about Ms Watson's aforementioned remarks, read: "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.
"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."
JK Rowling has blasted Emma Watson for her public olive branch to the author
| PATaking aim at Ms Watson's co-star, Daniel Radcliffe, Ms Rowling continued: "However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.
"When you've known people since they were ten years old, it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. 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.
"The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself."
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Ms Rowling then went on to reference the note that Ms Watson had passed on to her. She then explained: "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."
The author then let rip against Ms Watson's lavish lifestyle, writing: "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?
JK Rowling with Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson at the premiere of The Philosopher's Stone in 2001
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"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," Ms Rowling signed off. (sic)
Ms Watson is yet to publicly respond to Ms Rowling's lengthy statement. However, several of her followers were quick to praise the author for speaking out against the actress who "turned her back" on the writer.