JK Rowling’s Net Worth
J.K. Rowling’s life could certainly be a subject for one of her future books. The author who gave birth to the Harry Potter phenomenon went from rugs to riches within a few years. From a single mother, broke and with negative thoughts, J.K. Rowling became a billionaire and one of the most influential people in Britain. Harry Potter is the most-read series in the world, and the movies inspired by the real books are box office hits.
What is JK Rowling’s net worth?
At the time this article is written, the famous British author and movie producer JK Rowling has a net worth of $1 billion, making her the first author in the world to achieve this amount and one of the wealthiest private UK citizens. It is important to mention that JK denied being a billionaire and she is extremely private about her finances. This could be possible only if she has secretly donated a large part of her wealth to charity. For instance, it is known that she donated a minimum of $150 million to different charities until now.
JK Rowling earns anywhere between $50 and $100 million per year from her different endeavors. For example, she made $90 million between June 2018 and June 2019.
The “Harry Potter” books, which have now been translated into 65 languages around the world, have sold more than 500 million copies, not to mention the film series. Also, the characters created by J.K. Rowling have also inspired three amusement parks in the world so far. All this made the famous author richer than the Queen of England herself.
J.K. Rowling was decorated with the order of Companion of Honor by Prince William of Great Britain. The Companion of Honor order was established in 1917 and has only 65 members, representing a recognition for services of national importance.
Childhood
J.K. Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles from Bristol. Her father was an aeronautical engineer and her mother was a technician in the science department of a high school.
The author says that she did not have a very happy childhood, but from that time she discovered her passion for writing and inventing stories, that she read to her sister.
When she was only 15, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and died ten years later, before Joanne became a famous writer. Later, J.K. Rowling established a clinic dedicated to the research of this terrible disease, which she named after her mother, at the University of Edinburgh, also donating $16 million for this project.
Career beginning
Joanne Rowling studied French at the University of Exeter, and after graduation, she worked for the NGO Amnesty International, where she did translations in the research department. Although she was doing her job well, her mind was still on writing. So, in 1990 she came up with the idea for the Harry Potter books while on a train traveling from Manchester to London. For five years she worked on the plan for the books that would conquer the world.
Harry Potter
In 1995, J.K. Rowling finished the first book, which she sent to several publishers, but was rejected. In the end, she struck a deal with the Bloomsbury Publishing house, for printing 500 copies of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. She received an advance of £2,500. The publisher suggested that she use a writer’s name instead of the name Joanne, fearing that boys would not want to read a book written by a woman. That’s how the name J.K. Rowling – J from Joanne and K from Kathleen, her grandmother.
The adventures of the young wizard Harry Potter at Hogwarts school have fascinated both adults and children. “Harry Potter” is in first place in the list of the best-selling series in history, turning the author into a multi-millionaire in just 5 years.
Movies
Fortunately for Joanne, her book was a huge success with the public, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. In 1998, Warner Bros bought the rights to the first two Harry Potter films.
The second book, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, was even more successful than the first, with the novels growing in popularity from copy to copy.
The films were a success, with record box office receipts – the Harry Potter series became the most successful franchise of all time.
Other books
Joanne wanted to demonstrate her talent by tackling another literary style. Under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, she wrote several detective books – in the Cormoran Strike series. In 2012, she released the novel Sudden Death, preceded by several writings also from the Harry Potter universe, such as “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”.
Philanthropy and political views
In addition to her writing activity, J.K. Rowling supports various humanitarian causes and makes her political views known, being a supporter of the Labor Party. In 2014 she opposed Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, and in 2016 she campaigned against Brexit.
Private life
After her mother’s death on New Year’s Eve 1991, Joanne moved to Portugal to teach English after seeing an advert in The Guardian. She taught during the day and wrote at night. After 18 months spent in Porto, she met the Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes, who would become her husband. They got married on October 16, 1992, and a year later they became parents – Joanne gave birth to a little girl, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes. Before becoming a mother, the writer had lost a pregnancy. The marriage did not last long, however, as the two separated at the end of 1993. Various biographies claim that J.K. Rowling was allegedly physically abused by her husband.
A month after the release of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” Joanne remarried to a Scottish doctor, Neil Murray. She had become so famous that when she went shopping for her wedding dress, she disguised herself.
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