Rowling admits 'suicidal thoughts'

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The writer was prescribed cognitive behavioural therapy after suffering "suicidal thoughts" in the aftermath of separation from her first husband, Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist, according to reports.

She made the comments in an interview with Adeel Amini for a student magazine at Edinburgh University.

She said: "Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted. The thing that made me go for help...was probably my daughter. She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn't right, this can't be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state."

She said her usual GP was away and a replacement doctor sent her away, telling her to speak to the practice nurse if she ever felt "a bit low".

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable'," she said.

"Two weeks later I had a phone call from my regular GP who had looked back over the notes . . . She called me back in and I got counselling through her.

"She absolutely saved me because I don't think I would have had the guts to go and do it twice."

Rowling, 42, is now one of the richest women in the world, with a fortune estimated by US magazine Forbes at £504 million.

"I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never," she added. "What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that."