J.K. Rowling Accuses Ex-Husband of Holding Harry Potter Manuscript "Hostage"
The Harry Potter author reflected on her first marriage and how it affected her writing.
J.K. Rowling has made quite a career for herself over the years, starting as a single parent struggling with poverty, writing parts of her first book in coffee shops, and eventually becoming one of the richest and most famous authors of modern times.
Although she has been through several controversies regarding her questionable stance on transgender people, the fact that she managed to drastically change her life and become a world famous author deserves some respect.
With the release of the first episode of The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast, the author reflected on her difficult marriage to Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes.
"The situation was a bad situation, but until you actually go through it, you don't know what you would choose to do. I left him twice before I left for good, and then I went back twice," said the author.
She elaborated on the subject, saying that her marriage "turned very violent and very controlling," with Arantes going through her bags every time she came home.
"I haven't got a key to my own front door, because he's gotta control the front door. He's not a stupid person – I think he knew, or suspected, that I was gonna try and bolt again," Rowling said.
She then accused Arantes and said:
"In fact, he knew what that manuscript meant to me, because at a point, he took the manuscript and hid it. And that was his hostage."
This led to Rowling taking a page of the manuscript to work every day to photocopy. She took only a few pages at a time so that her soon-to-be ex-husband wouldn't notice anything missing.
"And gradually, in a cupboard in the staff room, bit by bit, the photocopied manuscript grew and grew and grew, because I suspected that if I wasn't able to get out with everything, he would burn it or take it or hold it hostage," said the author.
Finally, Rowling filed for divorce on August 10, 1994, and it was finalized on June 26, 1995.
She completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in June 1995; the manuscript was submitted to twelve publishers, all of whom rejected it.
It was later bought by Bloomsbury Publishing and finally published on June 26, 1997 to great acclaim.