J.K. Rowling has revealed she is a "domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor".
The ‘Harry Potter’ author has claimed she was the victim of a "violent marriage" to her first husband Jorge Arantas, whom she was married to for 13 months between 1992 and 1993, and with whom she has 26-year-old daughter Jessica.
J.K. revealed the tragic news in a lengthy blog post aimed at clarifying her stance on the transgender rights movement, after she was accused of transphobia when she seemingly invalidated transgender people by slamming an article for using the phrase "people who menstruate" rather than "women".
In the blog post, she wrote: "I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty 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."
The 54-year-old writer says she "managed to escape" the marriage, and is now happily married to Neil Murray – with whom she has 17-year-old David and 15-year-old Mackenzie – but insisted the "scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear".
She added: "I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke – and even I know it’s funny – but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven’t heard them approaching."
J.K.’s blog post goes on to explain she is worried about single-sex spaces such as bathrooms being opened up for transgender people, as she believes men will be able to access spaces that are meant to protect women.
She wrote: "When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth."