Daniel Radcliffe breaks silence on feud with JK Rowling

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has broken his silence over his feud with JK Rowling and revealed a heartbreaking truth.

Daniel Radcliffe. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images/AFP

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has addressed his infamous fallout with author JK Rowling, whose novels were adapted into the films that launched him to fame.

Rowling, whose views on transgender issues have turned her into a figure of immense controversy, first faced a wave of backlash from several Harry Potter cast members when she broached the subject in 2020.

Daniel Radcliffe. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Since then, her relationship with lead cast members Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who played the titular Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley respectively, has gradually soured.

In a new interview with The Atlantic Radcliffe, now 34, revealed he hasn’t spoken to Rowling, 58, in years.

“It makes me really sad, ultimately,” he said.

“Because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathetic.”

Radcliffe previously wrote a statement supporting the trans community for the Trevor Project in 2020.

“I realise that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as infighting between JK Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now,” he said at the time.

“To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you

“I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you.”

Rowling, whose Harry Potter series ranks among the best-selling books of all time, has been outspoken in her defence of the rights of women, raising concerns about single-sex spaces and the safety of women in prison.

She has publicly clashed with activists multiple times on social media. Transgender journalist and reality TV personality India Willoughby reported her to the police last month.

JK Rowling has alienated herself from the cast of Harry Potter in recent years. Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Warner Bros.

Last year, the outspoken author took to Twitter to criticise a new ruling from South Australian Chief Justice Chris Kourakis, which states “the use of preferred gender pronoun is a matter of respect and is an important component of ensuring public confidence in the proper administration of justice”.

She characterised the ruling as a “clear clash of rights”, saying a woman has a right to “speak truthfully about the male violence/sexual violence to which she was subjected”.

The ruling, which will govern the operations of courts in the state, says legal practitioners may “consider the gender pronouns of a person and their preferred title … this includes, but is not limited to, counsel, parties, witnesses, interpreters, solicitors and entities”.

Justice Kourakis said Rowling had “misunderstood” the protocol, which only requires lawyers to inform the court of correct pronunciation of names and preferred pronouns so proceedings are “conducted respectfully”.

He said any judge would ultimately “retain control over all forms of address used in court”.

“A victim of a crime would never be asked to address an accused person in a way which caused the victim distress,” he said in a statement.

“I would prefer that social media commentators took the time to properly inform themselves before pressing the send button, but my only concern is to assure the South Australian public that Ms Rowling’s anxiety is completely unfounded.”

Originally published as Daniel Radcliffe breaks silence on feud with JK Rowling