JK Rowling’s first husband admits to slapping her, then bizarrely denies abuse

Author JK Rowling’s first husband, Jorge Arantes has denied her claims of domestic abuse, although he bizarrely admitted to slapping her.

In the wake of Rowling’s essay explaining her stance against the characterization of transgender women as “normal women”, questions have been asked of Arantes after she claimed that her worldview was partly shaped by the sexual and domestic abuse she suffered earlier in their marriage.

“I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor,” Rowling wrote in a lengthy online post.

“This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember. Rowling described the dangers of young people being convinced to change their gender and then regretting it.

“I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.”

While admitting to slapping her at one time, Arantes, father to Rowling’s daughter, Jessica, denied that there was abuse in their relationship.

“I slapped Joanne — but there was not sustained abuse. I’m not sorry for slapping her… If she says that, that’s up to her. It’s not true I hit her,” he said.

Rowling, who is now married to Neil Murray, claimed that leaving her marriage to Arantes had been a difficult task.

“I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty. But I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be.

“However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made.”

Rowling moved to Porto after her mother’s death in 1990, before meeting Arantes in 1992 while she was teaching English and writing her first Harry Potter book. Daily Mast