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Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe described his breakup with J. K. Rowling on trans rights as “really sad” and that despite her role in his life as the creator of Potter “[it] doesn’t mean you owe the things you really believe to someone else for your whole life”.
Radcliffe’s comments came in an interview in the Atlanticand marks the first published remarks by one of the main actors in the Potter series since then the publication of the Cass review of gender identity servicesand Rowling’s subsequent proposal on social media that he and his co-star Emma Watson were “celebrities who joined a movement aimed at undermining women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to support the transition of minors.”
Radcliffe and Watson’s dispute with Rowling dates back to the latter’s intervention in the growing controversy between transgender rights activists and gender critical feminists in 2020 Radcliffe subsequently issued a statement via LGBTQ+ suicide prevention group The Trevor Project, saying, “Transgender women are women. Any claim to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all the advice given by professional health associations who have far more experience in this matter than Joe or I.”
Radcliffe told the Atlantic: “I’ve worked with Project Trevor for 12 years and it would have seemed like, I don’t know, huge cowardice for me not to say something. I wanted to try to help people who were negatively affected by the comments. And let me say that if these are Joe’s views, they are not the views of everyone involved in the Potter franchise.
He added: “I had a realization of a relationship with Harry Potter and these things. Many people found solace in these books and movies that dealt with feeling shut out or rejected by their family or living with a secret.
Radcliffe also said he has not had direct contact with Rowling since the controversy erupted. “It really makes me sad, ultimately, because I really look at the person that I met, the time that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and it’s all so deeply empathetic to me.”
In 2020, Radcliffe was joined in opposing Rowling’s position by Potter co-stars Watson and Rupert Grint, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them star Eddie Redmayne. Of the British media’s response to their statements, Radcliffe said: “There’s a version of ‘Are these three kids ungrateful?'” that people have always wanted to write and finally succeeded. So, good for them I guess… Obviously Harry Potter wouldn’t have happened without him [Rowling], so probably nothing in my life would have happened without this person. But that doesn’t mean you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for the rest of your life.
He added: “I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people and have no further comment beyond that.”
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