--- title: Jessica Williams Met J K Rowling and Watched Beyonce Videos description: Jessica Williams recounted an incredible story of how she met JK Rowling on her podcast with Phoebe Robinson, '2 Dope Queens.' canonical: https://time.com/4938867/jessica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-13T15:14:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:12.402Z og:title: How Jessica Williams and J. K. Rowling Became Close Friends og:description: "It was so weird, we had so much in common" og:url: https://time.com/4938867/jessica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefaae3fd8696ac97/6988dd8b0a4a2208329cfde3/jesica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Netflix Original Film "The Incredible Jessica James" At The 2017 Essence Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Jessica Williams and J. K. Rowling Became Close Friends twitter:description: "It was so weird, we had so much in common" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltefaae3fd8696ac97/6988dd8b0a4a2208329cfde3/jesica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Jessica Williams and J. K. Rowling Took Their Twitter Friendship to the Next Level With Beyoncé > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2b09119f-6557-4fc1-9725-a3ab94e6244a&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 13, 2017 3:14 PM UTC  NEW ORLEANS, LA - JULY 01: Jessica Williams attends the Premiere Of Netflix Original Film "The Incredible Jessica James" At The 2017 Essence Festival on July 1, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/\[SOURCE CREDIT for Netflix) NEW ORLEANS, LA - JULY 01: Jessica Williams attends the Premiere Of Netflix Original Film "The Incredible Jessica James" At The 2017 Essence Festival on July 1, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/\[SOURCE CREDIT for Netflix) Erika Goldring—\[SOURCE CREDIT for Netflix  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 13, 2017 3:14 PM UTC _The Daily Show_ alum [Jessica Williams](http://time.com/3712691/jessica-williams-daily-show-jon-stewart/) may have just created and starred in her own Netflix movie, [_The Incredible Jessica James_](http://time.com/4828439/netflix-hbo-amazon-hulu-stream-july/), but that doesn’t mean that the comedian doesn’t still get star-struck when she meets her heroes. On the season 4 premiere of her podcast with Phoebe Robinson, [_2 Dope Queens_](http://motto.time.com/4380400/phoebe-robinson-2-dope-queens/), Williams shared a heartwarming anecdote about meeting Harry Potter author and [Twitter legend J. K. Rowling.](http://time.com/4832926/jk-rowling-most-popular-tweets/) According to Williams, she received a message via Twitter from Rowling after the author discovered that they shared the same birthday. “She messages me and she was like, ‘I was looking up people who have my birthday, and I saw yours was mentioned. I was going to wish you ‘happy our birthday’ but I bloody forgot’… she’s like, ‘Which is typical me, but I think you are funny, intelligent, brave,’” Williams said. One thing led to another and Rowling eventually invited Williams to get a drink if she was ever in the U.K. “You guys know she’s very lit on Twitter, this past year she’s been losing her mind. I slid in her DMs and was like ‘Hey, I’m really sorry about this situation…’ she was lit up and talked about politics and everything and was like, ‘Anyway, I’m rambling like Dumbledore’ and she was like ‘Anyway, are you going to be in the UK any time soon?’ She was like, ‘I promise I’m not this talkative over the fourth cocktail.’” Williams ended up making good on Rowling’s offer during a trip to London, where she instantly connected with the author. “It’s the last night of my trip in London, and I go to this really beautiful hotel. I go up to the hostess, I \[say\] I’m here to see somebody… ‘Rowling?’ and she said ‘What’s the first name?’ and I said ‘J.K’. She comes down, and she’s just like, a vision. She comes down and we’re like talking and I’m so scared, I’m like trembling. I’m nervous at first and I’m just like talking to her…once we get past like ‘It’s so nice to meet you, thank you for having me…’ everything falls into place. She said so many wonderful things, then I had two cocktails and I was crying. It go to the point where it was so weird, we had so much in common…I didn’t know if as women or if my personality was shaped by things that she wrote.” Williams discovered that she had many things in common with Rowling, including an affinity for playing the Sims and an appreciation for the Knowles sisters. “At one point, she’s like ‘How did you meet your boyfriend?’ … I was like…’Playing the Sims’… she was like, ‘You say the Sims too?’ We shut down the bar, we shut down dinner, we had another drink at her room, and we watched _Lemonade_… and then she like, put on her glasses, I was like ‘Cool… well, have you seen _Cranes in the Sky_?’… and then I showed her Solange videos. Then I went home, I flew back and it was insane, an incredible experience.” The love fest hasn’t stopped though since Williams returned stateside; the pair are now texting buddies. “I texted her a few days later and was like, ‘Hey, have you heard of Rollercoaster Tycoon?’ … let me tell you something, she played Rollercoaster Tycoon.” Listen to the [full interview](http://www.wnyc.org/story/2-dope-queens-podcast-sitting-too-close-queen-latifah/) here. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4938867/jessica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4938867/jessica-williams-jk-rowling-friendship/"},"headline":"How Jessica Williams and J. K. 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