Emma Watson looked carefree as she stepped out at a Paris Fashion Week event days after being branded ‘ignorant and how ignorant she is’.
The actress, 35, gave a cheerful wave to fans in the French capital, while wearing a light pink checked oversized shirt over a white top.
She added knee-length black leather boots and accessorised with a black leather messenger bag and black rimmed Ray Ban wayfarer sunglasses, as she soaked in the rays at the event.
The Harry Potter star wore her auburn tresses in a wavy style, and finished off her look with three gold rings on her left hand and a thick silver bracelet on her right wrist.
The laid-back showing comes after Ms Watson was condemned for being ‘ignorant and how ignorant she is’ by Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
She said the actress’s public criticism of her gender critical stance had ‘poured more petrol on the flames’ of the abuse she had suffered.
The writer, 60, also dismissed Ms Watson’s recent claim that she ‘still treasures’ her by accusing the star of ‘cosying up’ to a movement that ‘regularly calls for a friend’s assassination’.
Ms Rowling has previously vowed to ‘never forgive’ Ms Watson or her Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for having ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’.
Emma Watson looked carefree as she stepped out at a Paris Fashion Week event days after being branded ‘ignorant and how ignorant she is’
The actress greeted fans in the French capital, while wearing a light pink checked oversized shirt over a white top
But she has never previously made such a personal criticism of the woman she made famous.
In a statement on Monday, Ms Rowling said the trio had ‘every right to embrace gender identity ideology’ but attacked them for using their links to Harry Potter to serve as ‘de facto spokespeople’ for the ‘world I created’.
Ms Rowling then focussed her fire on Ms Watson by suggesting her views on trans rights were due to her lack of experience of ‘real life’.
The actress recently blamed her driving ban on being a movie star from a young age, saying it had left her ‘unable to do some pretty basic life things’.
Ms Rowling raged: ‘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.’
Ms Rowling went on to claim that Ms Watson’s recent claim that she still ‘treasures’ her was a cynical attempt to shift her stance after realising ‘full-throated condemnation of me is not as fashionable as it once was’.
She said she had felt compelled to go on the record following Ms Watson’s comments last week.
Ms Rowling pictured with Ms Watson at the world premiere of Deathly Hallows in 2011
Speaking to On Purpose with Jay Shetty, the actress said her support for trans rights did not mean she had turned against the woman who shaped her life.
Ms Watson 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.’
Ms Rowling insisted she did not expect Ms Watson, Mr Radcliffe or Mr Grint to agree with her on everything and they ‘have every right to embrace gender identity ideology’.
But she added: ‘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.’
Continuing her statement, Ms Rowling said she had found it ‘hard to shake’ a feeling of ‘protectiveness’ for people she had first met as child actors.
But she said Ms Watson’s declaration in a speech at the 2022 Baftas that she was ‘here for all the witches’ – which was widely interpreted as a dig against her gender critical views – had prompted a change of heart.
‘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.
Ms Rowling said she had long felt ‘protective’ over the former child star (pictured: the pair in 2002)
‘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 Ms Watson’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.
‘Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence ”I’m so sorry for what you’re going through” (she has my phone number).
‘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.’
In by far her most personal criticism yet, Ms Rowling suggested the actress had been blinded by wealth and privilege.
‘Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Ms Watson 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?
Ms Rowling posted a long statement on X on Monday
‘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?
‘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 author suggested she might never have made her comments if it hadn’t been for Ms Watson’s decision to speak about her last week.
‘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.’
Over the weekend, Ms Rowling shared a parody video where a woman posing as Ms Watson shared a ‘satirical take on her words towards Rowling’.
In the clip, the fake Ms Watson said: ‘I will always hold space for her and so much love in my heart for her, and I would hope that she felt the same way about me.
‘But also I stand shoulder to shoulder with those who would wish harm on her, hate her and would wish the absolute worst for her in her life.
‘But those seemingly incompatible, those two things can exist at the same time, which is why I love this incredibly diverse world that we live in…’
