Editing J. K. Rowling (section)

=== Marriage, divorce and single parenthood ===
[[File:VistadoPorto.jpg|thumbnail|Rowling moved to [[Porto]], Portugal, to teach English.|alt=A panned out image of city buildings]]
Five months after arriving in Porto,<!-- the 18 months reported in ''The Scotsman cannot be correct. Her mother died in December 1990, she arrived in Porto in November, which has to be 91, she has a miscarriage in summer 1992, so meeting him in March as Smith reports would be correct--> Rowling met the Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes in a bar and found that they shared an interest in [[Jane Austen]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=121–122}} By mid-1992, they were planning a trip to London to introduce Arantes to Rowling's family, when she had a miscarriage.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=127}} The relationship was troubled, but they married on 16 October 1992.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=127–131}}{{efn|Pugh writes, "In a droll allusion to this ill-fated union, Professor Trelawney warns Lavender Brown, 'Incidentally, that thing you are dreading – it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October'."{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} }} Their daughter Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (named after Jessica Mitford{{efn|Rowling says that Jessica was named after Mitford and a boy would have been named Harry; according to Smith (2002), Arantes says that Jessica was named after [[Jezebel]] from the Bible.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=132}} }}) was born on 27 July 1993 in Portugal.<ref name=JKRStory/>{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} By this time, Rowling had finished the first three chapters of ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' – almost as they were eventually published – and had drafted the rest of the novel.{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=70}}

Rowling experienced [[domestic violence|domestic abuse]] during her marriage.<ref name=RowlingReasons/>{{sfn|Kirk|2003|loc=p. 57: "Soon, by many eyewitness accounts and even some versions of Jorge's own story, domestic violence became a painful reality in Jo's life."}} Arantes said in June 2020 that he had slapped her and did not regret it.<ref>{{cite web|title=JK Rowling: Sun newspaper criticised by abuse charities for article on ex-husband|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53023543|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=12 June 2020|access-date=12 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612132451/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53023543|archive-date=12 June 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Rowling described the marriage as "short and catastrophic".{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} She says she was not allowed to have a house key and that her husband used the growing manuscript of her first book as a hostage.<ref>{{cite news| last=Rawlinson | first=Kevin | title=JK Rowling reveals abuse in past relationship |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | date=22 February 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/22/jk-rowling-reveals-abuse-in-past-relationship |access-date= 22 February 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230222131451/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/22/jk-rowling-reveals-abuse-in-past-relationship |archive-date= 22 February 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Rowling and Arantes separated on 17 November 1993 after Arantes threw her out of the house; she returned with the police to retrieve Jessica and her belongings and went into hiding for two weeks before she left Portugal.<ref name= JKRStory/>{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=133–134}} In late 1993, with a draft of ''Harry Potter'' in her suitcase,<ref name=Parker2012/> Rowling moved with her daughter to [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]],<ref name=AboutJKR/> planning to stay with her sister until Christmas.<ref name=HarryMe/>

Her biographer Sean Smith raises the question of why Rowling chose to stay with her sister rather than her father.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=136–137}} Rowling has spoken of an estrangement from her father, stating in an interview with [[Oprah Winfrey]] that "It wasn't a good relationship from my point of view for a very long time but I had a need to please and I kept that going for a long time and then there&nbsp;... just came a point at which I had to pull up and say I can't do this anymore."{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=4}} Pete had married his secretary within two years of Anne's death,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=136}} and ''[[The Scotsman]]'' reported in 2003 that "[t]he speed of his decision to move in with his secretary&nbsp;... distressed both sisters and a fault-line now separated them and their father."<ref name=JKRStory/> Rowling said in 2012 that they had not spoken in the last nine years.<ref name=Parker2012/>

Rowling sought government assistance and got £69 (US$103) per week from [[Department of Social Security (United Kingdom)|Social Security]]; not wanting to burden her recently married sister, she moved to a flat that she described as mouse-ridden.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=138–139}} She later described her economic status as being as "poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless".<ref name=Parker2012/> Seven years after graduating from university, she saw herself as a failure.<ref name=RowlingTED>{{cite web |first=JK |last=Rowling |title=JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure |publisher=[[TED (conference)|TED]] |quote=Failure & imagination |date=June 2008 |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html |access-date=5 March 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110430171632/http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html |archive-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> [[Tison Pugh]] writes that the "grinding effects of poverty, coupled with her concern for providing for her daughter as a single parent, caused great hardship".{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}} Her marriage had failed, and she was jobless with a dependent child, but she later described this as "liberating" her to focus on writing.<ref name=RowlingTED/> She has said that "Jessica kept me going".{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=136}} Her old school friend, Sean Harris, lent her £600 ($900), which allowed her to move to a flat in [[Leith]],{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=140}} where she finished ''Philosopher's Stone''.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=140}}

Arantes arrived in Scotland in March 1994 seeking both Rowling and Jessica.<ref name=JKRStory/>{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=141}} On 15 March 1994, Rowling sought an [[Interdicts in Scots law|action of interdict]] (order of restraint); the interdict was granted and Arantes returned to Portugal.<ref name=JKRStory/>{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=142}} Early in the year, Rowling began to experience a deep depression{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=60}} and sought medical help when she contemplated suicide.{{sfn|Pugh|2020|p=3}}{{efn|The depression inspired the [[Dementors]] – soul-sucking creatures introduced in ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Chaundy|first=Bob|date=18 February 2003|title=Harry Potter's magician|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/823330.stm|access-date=13 January 2022|publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> }} With nine months of therapy, her mental health gradually improved.{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=60}} She filed for divorce on 10 August 1994;{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=144}} the divorce was finalised on 26 June 1995.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=150}}

Rowling wanted to finish the book before enrolling on a teacher training course, fearing she might not be able to finish once she started the course.<ref name=HarryMe/> She often wrote in cafés,{{sfn|Kirk|2003|pp=55, 60}} including Nicolson's, part-owned by her brother-in-law.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=144–146}} Secretarial work brought in £15 ($22.50) per week, but she would lose government benefits if she earned more.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=147–148}} In mid-1995, a friend gave her money that allowed her to come off benefits and enrol<!-- DO NOT CHANGE, this is British English spelling--> full-time in college.{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=149}} Still needing money and expecting to make a living by teaching,{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=173}} Rowling began a teacher training course in August 1995 at [[Moray House School of Education]]{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=148–149}}{{efn|name=Moray|Moray House was then part of [[Heriot-Watt University]] and later became part of the [[University of Edinburgh]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=148–149}}}} after completing her first novel.{{sfn|Anelli|2008|p=44}} She earned her teaching certificate in July 1996{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=76}} and began teaching at [[Leith Academy]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=174}} Rowling later said that writing the first ''Harry Potter'' book had saved her life and that her concerns about "love, loss, separation, death&nbsp;... are reflected in the first book".{{sfn|Cruz|2008}}