JK Rowling says she hid copies of her manuscript in office cupboard because she was afraid her husband would hide and hold it hostage – Times of India

In a recent podcast released just yesterday, the first in the series, Witch Trials of JK Rowling, the famed author of the Harry Potter books spoke about her toxic marriage with her ex-husband, Jorge Arantes. The two were married between 1992 to 1995.
She said that her husband would treat her violently and would be very controlling of her movements. She said that he would deny her the key to their front door because he was afraid she would leave him.
She also suffered a miscarriage around this time, so she was even more wary of him and what he would do to her manuscript because she realised that he could take it away if he suspected that she was going to leave him. Eventually, he hid her manuscript at one point to prevent her from leaving him.

In those years, JK Rowling would quietly take a few pages of her manuscript at a time to her office and photocopy them, storing a parallel copy in her office cupboard. She did this only because her husband knew what that manuscript meant to her. Rowling also added that the only thing that was precious to her beyond her manuscript was her unborn child whom she was carrying at that point of time.

Her daughter, Jessica Rowling Arantes, is now 29.