Find, view and share videos about news and entertainment from around the Web.
See Videos »

Blog Chatter

NEWS ALERTS

Get the latest updates sent straight to your inbox.

Sign up to receive AOL News alerts by e-mail.

'Potter' Author Contemplated Suicide

AP
Posted: 2008-03-24 11:01:53
LONDON (March 24) - J.K. Rowling said she contemplated suicide as she suffered from depression before her rise to success, according to an interview with a student journalist.

The Harry Potter author said she had suicidal thoughts in her mid-20s, when she was a single mother and struggling to establish a literary career.

Photo Gallery

Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images

J.K. Rowling's
Fall and Rise

1 of 10    

J. K. Rowling, creator of the 'Harry Potter' series, told a school paper in the U.K. that she considered killing herself when she was a struggling single mother.

"Mid-20s life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted," Rowling said, according to an interview posted online by student journalist Adeel Amini.

Rowling said in the interview, parts of which were published in Edinburgh University's Student magazine, that she sought help from doctors and spent nine months receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, according to Amini.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking, `I'm a little bit miserable,"' Rowling, 42, was quoted as saying.

Amini provided The Associated Press with an audio file of his 29-minute conversation with Rowling.

Christopher Little, Rowling's London-based agent, didn't immediately respond to requests Monday for comment.

Rowling has previously said she suffered depression before her Harry Potter series brought her international success. She has acknowledged that characters featured in the series called Dementors were inspired by her illness.

The author has said she sought medical help following her separation from first husband, Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist.

Amini told the AP in an e-mail that he had carried out the interview in Edinburgh last month. He said Rowling granted him an interview after a chance meeting several months ago in a coffee shop in the city.

"I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never," Rowling was quoted as saying in her interview with Amini. "What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that."

Fortune magazine ranks Rowling, who wrote seven Harry Potter novels, as one of the richest women in Britain, with an estimated wealth of $1 billion.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-03-23 10:01:22
Bookmark

Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 846
846 comments

idkyi8jelly 06:14:46 PM Mar 29 2008

actually she started wriing the first book on scraps of newspaper

Litka326 10:29:15 PM Mar 25 2008

I have so many ideas but I do not ever start. Why? What is holding me back...I truly do not know.

But if Rowling started writing on napkins when she lacked paper, then perhaps I could stop making darn excuses and start already!!!!!

She is such a hero to me.

Kferocity 06:19:27 PM Mar 25 2008

reelmakebelieve 03:20:15 PM Mar 24 2008
Report This!

Let's see, she's cornered the children's market, the homosexual market, the the satanist, occultist, anti-religionist market, now she's got her sights set on the depressive and suicidal market. What's next?
-------------
You realize that when she contemplated suicide was 20 years ago...

Plumucci 12:40:21 PM Mar 25 2008

Some artists in my area would like to start a writer's colony for people who are like Ms. Rowling was--single moms trying to crank out great work. Their kids could come to stay, too, while the moms complete important novels or screen plays, etc. I think Ms. Rowling would say yipee to that one!! We're adding to our list of one-time-single-mom authors would might want to help out! We can save on a few research hours by asking around and seeing who knows of whom. If you know of any authors who managed to accomplish their success as similarly exhausted single parents, would you please send their names to plumucci@aol.com? Thanks! Abbey

annedyth 10:00:57 PM Mar 24 2008

I hate to wimp out , but I worked today ...
and didn't sleep well yesternite...
So, Thanks, and
when the new movie of HP is shown.I'll enjoy it even more than
I useta/!
gdnite/

annedyth 09:51:37 PM Mar 24 2008

that's neat!,thorrsman!
Good for him! that's some proud accomplishment!

thorrsman 09:41:24 PM Mar 24 2008

annedyth Her work certainly got my son started at reading. Finished the first two just before he turned eight and hasn't missed one since. Now, at fifteen, he reads at above-college level. Even if I didn't like her stories, I would have to admire the positive effect she had on children's literacy.

annedyth 09:32:02 PM Mar 24 2008

she was depressed before her sucess....
and that was what the article said...
as for 'Your"she should have did it,,,"
Me and about three million others are Damn glad she
DIDN"T.!

thorrsman 09:31:35 PM Mar 24 2008

LeModernCaveman back to your cave, Caveman, and READ the article. Her depression was BEFORE she became famous, before she wrote her first book. This is not some spoiled celib's whine for help today, this is her effort to help other who are going through what she went through. A way to show others that, no matter how bleak today looks, there is always a promise for a better tomorrow.

Mcclintonl4 09:29:16 PM Mar 24 2008

cool.

1 - 10 of 846
846 comments

Add your own Comments

* Want the latest Hot Seat polls delivered to your Vista desktop? Hot Seat Vista Gadget »

Top Videos

News Bloggers