J.K. Rowling Suing The Daily Mail For Libel

Posted on January 31, 2014

The Guardian reports that J.K. Rowling is suing The Daily Mail for libel over another one of the tabloid's hit pieces on the bestselling Harry Potter author. Rowling is the president of a charity called Gingerbread which is devoted to helping single parents. Rowling wrote an article about the stigma of being a single mother (which you can read here) and The Daily Mail twisted her words into a ridiculous story entitled "How JK Rowling's sob story about her past as a single mother has left the churchgoers who cared for her upset and bewildered."

The Daily Mail said that Rowling accused the church members where she was a secretary (paid a mere 15 pounds sterling a week) of harassing and torturing her, which is not at all what Rowling said in her article. In fact, she was quite grateful to the church for giving her a temp job so she could keep her benefits and look after her young child at the time, while writing her novel in her off hours.

According to the lawsuit, The Daily Mail accused Rowling of giving "a knowingly false account of her time as a single mother in Edinburgh," and "falsely and inexcusably accused her fellow churchgoers of behaving in a bigoted, unchristian manner towards her, of stigmatising her and cruelly taunting her for being a single mother."

The Daily Mail has removed the offending article from its website, but the print version has already run. Rowling has been involved in a number of lawsuits over the years and she usually gives the damage awards to charity. We think Rowling will win this one easily.