Miriam Margolyes has defended her recent on-air exchange with Andi Peters while separately revealing she earned £60,000 for her Harry Potter appearances.
The 85-year-old actress, who played Professor Sprout in two of the franchise’s films, made the salary disclosure during a live panel discussion. Margolyes asked the audience if they wanted to know what she had been paid for the blockbusters.
“£60k,” she revealed. “It’s f–king rubbish.”
She added: “I mean I don’t mind that everybody else got more, I don’t mind… It’s just the way the business works. It’s like that.”
The veteran performer also expressed frustration with the role’s lasting hold on her public image. “I’m not thrilled that everybody thinks of me as Professor Sprout,” she said, per The Sun. “Because I have done other, better things.”
Her filmography spans decades and includes Romeo + Juliet, The Age of Innocence, James and the Giant Peach, Blackadder, and Babe.
Social media users quickly weighed in on her financial revelation. One person noted: “She was in like three scenes so £60k ain’t bad.”
Another raised the question of ongoing earnings: “60k at first… what about the residual payments?”
A third speculated: “I bet she gets a fair chunk each year obviously not millions but I’d say a good £100k a year.”
The Harry Potter comments arrived shortly after Margolyes faced significant criticism for an exchange on ITV’s This Morning. During the live broadcast, she asked host Peters: “What are you?”
Peters responded: “I’m me.”
Margolyes continued: “Well, you’re a mix, aren’t you? So you’ve got a Black daddy and a white mummy.”
Peters then clarified that both of his parents are Black.
The actress later addressed the backlash in a statement. She said: “I’d never met [Peters] before; I didn’t know who he was and I didn’t know he was Black until I saw him.”
She added: “When you see someone, of course you know they’re Black.”
Margolyes expanded on her perspective regarding the encounter. “I am fascinated by other people,” she continued. “They are the people that interest me, not the celebrities so much. It’s everybody. What their story is, what made them who they are, why you are the way you are.”
The two controversies have kept Margolyes in headlines across British media, with her Harry Potter salary remarks generating fresh discussion even as the This Morning incident continues to draw commentary online.
Margolyes appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and returned for the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, as Pomona Sprout, the herbology professor and head of Hufflepuff House.
The outlet has previously contacted ITV and representatives for Margolyes for comment.