In a new podcast, the author of Harry Potter states, “I do not walk around my residence pondering my legacy.”
J.K. Rowling responded to the criticism she received after expressing her views on gender identity by stating that she “never intended to offend anyone.”
Her seven Harry Potter volumes published between 1997 and 2007 have sold over 500 million copies worldwide.
However, she has received criticism for her views on gender identity, which were revealed in a series of tweets she published in 2020.
She said this in a new podcast titled The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling “I never intended to offend anyone.
However, I had no qualms about stepping down from my perch.
Among the tweets she posted in June 2020 was the following: “I know and respect transgender people, but eliminating the concept of sex prevents many from discussing their lives in a meaningful way. It is not hateful to express the truth.”
Rowling, who has always denied transphobia allegations, stated in the podcast: “And what has fascinated me in the last decade and especially in the last few years, especially on social media, is the following: “You’ve ruined your legacy, oh you could have been beloved forever, but you chose to say this,” and I believe you could not have misunderstood me more deeply.
“I do not contemplate my legacy while walking around my home. What a pompous way to conduct one’s life, contemplating one’s legacy at all times. Whatever. I’ll be deceased. I care about the present moment. I am concerned for the living.”
The author also described how her first spouse, Jorge Arantes, hid her unpublished manuscript for the first Harry Potter book so that she would not leave him.
The couple wed in October 1992, and she abandoned him in November 1993, having previously left and returned twice.
Rowling characterized her marriage to Arantes as “extremely violent and extremely controlling,” which worsened when she became pregnant with Jessica.
“I would continue writing. He was aware of the significance of the manuscript to me because at one point he took and hid it as his captive.”
When she decided to depart for good, she began to photocopy a few pages of the manuscript each day so that he wouldn’t notice anything was missing.
Rowling added: “And gradually, in a cupboard in the staff room, a photocopied manuscript grew and grew, as I feared he would destroy, steal, or hold it hostage if I was unable to leave with it.
“This manuscript remained extremely important to me. This was the item that I prioritized for preservation.
“The only other thing I prioritized was my daughter. But she was still inside me at the time, so she was as secure as she could be in that situation.”
In a 2000 interview, Arantes described their relationship as “always either paradise or hell.”
