She was a single mom living on state benefits
She wrote this book to prove her sister wrong
Rowling’s sister Dianne actually laughed at her when Rowling first had her read the initial chapters of Harry Potter.
“It’s possible that if she hadn’t laughed, I would have set the whole thing on one side,” Rowling said of the encounter.
She lost her mother to multiple sclerosis only six months into writing
She lost her mother to multiple sclerosis only six months into writing Harry Potter. Her experience inspired the loss of a certain young man’s parents in the book, too.
She dated a journalist named Jorge Arantes
She left Great Britain to get a literal fresh start. After her mother’s death in 1990, Rowling moved to Portugal, where she taught English classes.
While in Portugal, Rowling dated a journalist named Jorge Arantes and moved in with him and his mother.
She had a miscarriage
Sadly, after becoming pregnant with Arantes’ baby, Rowling miscarried. Arantes proposed to Rowling in 1992.
Her marriage lasted 13 months and one day
Rowling married Arantes in October 1992 (pictured with his mother) and gave birth to their daughter, Jessica, in July 1993. The marriage lasted 13 months and one day.
She got divorced
After the marriage ended in November 1993, Rowling fell on harder times when she moved back to the U.K. “I never expected to mess up so badly that I would find myself in an unheated, mouse-infested flat, looking after my daughter,” Rowling said. “And I was angry because I felt I was letting her down.”
