JK Rowling has revealed her loved ones "begged" for her to keep her views on trans women to herself.
The acclaimed author fell from grace with many fans of her Harry Potter saga over recent years as she has taken an outspoken stance against trans women, controversially claiming they were "not women." This has earned her worldwide criticism, including from actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson who have been vocal about their support of the LGBTQI+ community.
In a new book of essays titled The Women Who Wouldn't Say Wheesht and published in The Times, the 58-year-old explained that she had made her opinions clear despite pleas from her loved ones to keep her views to herself.
JK Rowling has taken an outspoken stance against trans women in recent years (Getty Images)
But the author has recently claimed that her loved ones urged her to keep her views to herself (PA)JK Rowling said she kept silent "because people around me, including some I love, were begging me not to speak." She added, admitting to feeling "guilt" down the line: "so I watched from the sidelines as women with everything to lose rallied, in Scotland and across the UK, to defend their rights. My guilt that I wasn’t standing with them was with me daily, like a chronic pain."
As mentioned, JK Rowling eventually spoke out, going against the warnings, and made her stance clear for the first time in December, 2019, by sharing a supportive tweet for Maya Forstater. At the time, the researcher had been fired from her job at a think-tank, Centre for Global Development, for online posts questioning the government's plans to allow individuals to identify as another gender than the one they were assigned with at birth.
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The storm around JK Rowling's views has since been ongoing, with many of her scandalised fans turning her back on her. Earlier this year, the writer went on a tweeting spree after a divisive report of the NHS' gender services for children and young people.
But just as she was expressing her thoughts, one of her followers chimed in: "just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology... safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them", a reference to Harry Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.
Responding in another comment, JK Rowling was remained direct: "not safe, I'm afraid." She then added: "celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces."
Although he may never earn her forgiveness, Daniel Radcliffe said JK Rowling's views on the trans community made him feel "really sad", particularly as he looked back on their long friendship while he was filming Harry Potter: "It makes me really sad, ultimately, 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 empathic."
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