J.K. Rowling Podcast Debut: “I Do Not Walk Around My House Thinking About My Legacy”

deadline.com:

In the new podcast The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, debuting today, the Harry Potter author says she does not concern herself with thoughts of legacy or how she’ll be remembered. “I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy,” Rowling says in the first episode, available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Audible and wherever podcasts are available. “You know, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking, ‘What will my legacy be?’ Whatever, I’ll be dead.

I care about now. I care about the living.” Two episodes of the podcast were made available today, with the remaining five episodes to be released in weekly installments.

Rowling has been widely criticized for her repeated statements on the transgender community and a perceived threat to “the lived reality of women globally.” Rowling has maintained that self-declaration of gender identity should not be sufficient to determine legal gender status.

In a podcast trailer released last week, Rowling was heard saying that her statements over the years had been “profoundly” misunderstood, and that she “never set out to upset anyone.” In the full quote included in today’s podcast debut episode, Rowling responds to the suggestion that her comments and the controversy they sparked has damaged her once-assured legacy. “I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy,” she says. “You know, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking, ‘What will my legacy be?’ Whatever, I’ll be dead.