She was born Joanne Kathleen Rowling in Yate, England on July 31, 1965.
Just in her twenties, within a 7 year period, she'd lost her mother, moved to Portugal to teach English, got married to journalist Jorge Arantes, gave birth to daughter Jessica, was divorced and moved back to Edinburgh. While she'd struggled to support herself and her daughter, she'd suffered from severe depression and contemplated suicide.
Prior to finding herself a single mother living on welfare, she'd been a bilingual secretary with Amnesty International having conceived an idea for a book on a delayed train from Manchester. Thankfully, the 7 sad years in between had not made her give up on her idea.
Having been rejected by no less than 12 publishers and given a mere £ 1,500 in advance when her idea was finally accepted, she was finally able to finish her book in 1997. It told the story of a young orphaned boy who finds out he's a wizard. That book was the first of 7 that would later take the world by storm. That book was "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".
Within 5 years she had gone from depending on welfare to becoming a multimillionaire, from secretary to the United Kingdom's best selling living author. Forbes ranked her as the 48th most powerful in 2007 taking into consideration the social impact and inspiration of Harry Potter. By 2008 her fortune had been estimated at £560 million making her the twelfth richest woman in the UK. Leading magazine editors named her "Most Influential Woman in Britain" in 2010. Sunday Times UK Rich List listed her net worth by 2014 at $1 billion. The Harry Potter movies became the highest grossing film series of all bringing in $7.7 billion worldwide while the Harry Potter brand's estimated worth stands at $15 billion. Between the books, films, merchandise and the Universal Studios Harry Potter themed park, she shall be receiving revenues for the rest of her life.
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