'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.
Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images
J.K. Rowling's
Fall and Rise
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.
A Harry Potter fan purchases the newly published Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling during a ceremony to mark its release at a Tokyo book store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
AP
Harry Potter fans show the newly published Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling during a ceremony to mark its release at a Tokyo book store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
AP
Children, wearing Harry Potter costume, pick up the newly published Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling during the ceremony to mark its release at a department store in Tokyo, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
AP
The cover of the manuscript "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" handwritten and illustrated by Potter book author J.K. Rowling is shown during the ceremony to open its exhibition held coincident with the release of Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" at a Tokyo department store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The online store Amazon purchased the manuscript for about US$ 4 million (about 450 million yen then) at an auction in London last December. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
AP
Pages of the manuscript "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" handwritten and illustrated by Potter book author J.K. Rowling are shown during the ceremony to open its exhibition held coincident with the release of Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" at a Tokyo department store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The online store Amazon purchased the manuscript for about US$ 4 million (about 450 million yen then) at an auction in London last December. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
AP
Yuko Matsuoka, Japanese translator of the Harry Potter books, right, and Jasper Cheng, president of Amazon Japan, show the manuscript "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" handwritten and illustrated by Potter book author J.K. Rowling during the ceremony to open its exhibition held coincident with the release of Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", left, at a Tokyo department store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The online store purchased the manuscript for about US$ 4 million (about 450 million yen then) at an auction in London last December. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
AP
Yuko Matsuoka, Japanese translator of the Harry Potter books, right, and Jasper Cheng, president of Amazon Japan, show the manuscript "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" handwritten and illustrated by Potter book author J.K. Rowling during the ceremony to open its exhibition held coincident with the release of Japanese edition of the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" at a Tokyo department store, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The online store purchased the manuscript for about US$ 4 million (about 450 million yen then) at an auction in London last December. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)
AP
Clad in witch and wizard costumes, members of Harry Potter fan club wait for release of the Jananese version of "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" at a special corner of a department store in Tokyo on July 23, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Clad in witch and wizard costumes, members of Harry Potter fan club wait for release of the Jananese version of "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" at a special corner of a department store in Tokyo on July 23, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Clad in witch and wizard costumes, members of Harry Potter fan club wait for release of the Jananese version of "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" at a special corner of a department store in Tokyo on July 23, 2008. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
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.
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