Miriam Margolyes is proving once again that age has done nothing to dull her fire. The 84-year-old British icon, best known for The Age of Innocence and Harry Potter, appeared on Ireland’s The Late Late Show this week and reminded audiences exactly why she’s one of the most fearless voices in entertainment. When asked about her activism and progressive politics, Margolyes leaned in with her signature mix of humor and conviction. “I’m a left-wing dyke, and I love it,” she declared, grinning from ear to ear.
“I love being a lesbian,” she continued. “It’s great fun.”
Margolyes has always been open about who she is and what she believes in, but her latest appearance took that to another level. She spoke about the ongoing war in Gaza, saying it’s important for her to speak out as a Jewish woman. “People need to realize that Jewish people are not killers,” she said. “This is just a section of the Israeli people that are like that, not Jewish people. And I want that to be known and understood.” She described seeing the oppression of Palestinians firsthand during visits to Israel and said, “It’s wrong. I don’t want us to be changed by Hitler, by the Holocaust, into nasty people. I won’t have it.”
Her comments drew both praise and criticism online, but Margolyes made it clear that she isn’t worried about who she might offend. “It hurts when people you’re fond of don’t want to talk to you anymore because they think you’re a traitor,” she said, acknowledging that her views have cost her friends. “But I am who I am, and I’m not going to apologize for it.”
This isn’t the first time Margolyes has made headlines for speaking her mind. She’s publicly clashed with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling over her anti-trans rhetoric and defended the younger cast members who’ve spoken out against the writer. “Now they’re grown up and they have opinions,” she said last year. “They shouldn’t be silenced just because they were in her films.”
Recently, Rowling reignited her feud with Emma Watson, criticizing the Harry Potter star in a lengthy post on X and accusing her of being “ignorant” about real-world struggles. “Had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me … I might never have been this honest.”
Margolyes appeared on The Late Late Show show to speak about her new autobiography, The Little Book of Miriam. “Packed with her wit, wisdom and unfiltered stories, The Little Book of Miriam is a memory palace of Miriam’s extraordinary life’s standout moments, opinions and conclusions. Never forget that this is a woman who knocked back WARREN BEATTY, played to an audience of TWO THOUSAND NAKED LESBIANS, injected sex into the CADBURY’S CARAMEL BUNNY and was VOGUE‘S COVER STAR AGED 83. Miriam is always full of surprises and this book is too.”
