JK Rowling says she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and suffered domestic violence at the hands of her first husband
JK ROWLING has said she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and also revealed she suffered traumatic domestic abuse during her first marriage.
The Harry Potter author wrote an emotional blog post on her past ordeal as controversy swirled over transphobia accusations and actors Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne spoke out against her.
Rowling, 54, said she was partly motivated to speak out about transgender issues because of her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
In the post, she detailed five reasons she felt the need to talk about the issue – including her interest in “both education and safeguarding” and “freedom of speech”.
Today, she wrote: “I’ve been in the public eye now for over 20 years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.
“This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember.
“I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage. I didn’t want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too.
“However, a short while ago, I asked her how she’d feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life and she encouraged me to go ahead.
“I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.”
Rowling had one child with her Portuguese ex-husband, Jorge Arantas. The pair were married for 13 months.
In 2000, the ex-drug addict Arantes admitted he had once slapped Rowling “very hard” on November 17, 1993, and threw her out of their home in Porto.
She returned the following day with a cop to get their four-month-old baby.
They remained in hiding with pals for a fortnight before returning to the UK.
‘TERRIFIED BY ACTIVISTS’
Rowling also said in the lengthy blog post that she had felt “mentally sexless” as a young woman, which had prompted her to develop mental health issues.
She wrote: “When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth.”
The author’s blog added: “Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories.”
Rowling insisted that all she wanted was “similar empathy, similar understanding” currently given to trans people to be “extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse”.
I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth.
JK Rowling
She also said there was a “huge explosion” in young women wishing to transition to men, and an “increasing numbers” of trans people “who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex).”
Wondering whether – had she been born 30 years later – she might have “tried to transition”, Rowling said, “the allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge.
“I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager.
“If I’d found community and sympathy online that I couldn’t find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred.”
In her 3,663-word piece, Rowling also wrote: “On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one.
“To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered’.
“Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they’d drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop.
“That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity.
“I couldn’t shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls’ safety.”
Her words on the issue came hours after actor Eddie Redmayne, 38, star of JK’s Fantastic Beasts film franchise, became the latest actor to speak out against her.
He said today: “As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand.
“I disagree with Jo’s comments.
“Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.
“I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse.
“They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
‘DEEPLY SORRY’
Daniel Radcliffe has apologised to the trans community as he hit out at JK Rowling’s ‘transphobic’ Twitter row.
The film star, 30, penned an open letter in which he told fans of the wizarding franchise: “I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.”
Radcliffe voiced strong objections to her words in his statement via US organisation The Trevor Project, which aims to prevent suicides in the LGBTQ community.
He wrote: “Transgender women are women.
“Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
Rowling, 54, had posted a response to a headline referring to “people who menstruate”.
She wrote: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
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Several people hit back to point out it was not only women born women who menstruate.
Rowling, who is said to be worth £765million, responded: “My life has been shaped by being female.
“I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”