JK Rowling has revealed her abusive ex-husband hid the manuscript for the first Harry Potter novel in a bid to stop her from leaving him.
The author said Portuguese TV reporter Jorge Arantes kept the pages of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone like a "hostage" and she feared he would burn them.After discovering where the manuscript was, she secretly started photocopying a few pages each day to ensure her work would not be lost.
Rowling, 57, married Arantes in 1992 after meeting him in a bar in Portugal where she had moved to work as a teacher following her mother's death.The couple had a daughter Jessica, now 29, but she left in 1993 after Arantes dragged her out of their home and attacked her.
She said: "The marriage had turned very violent and very controlling. He was searching my handbag every time I came home and I didn't have a key to my own front door."It was a horrible state of tension to live in because I had to act as though I wasn't going and I don't think I'm a very good actor.
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