JK Rowling’s abusive ex Jorge Arantes moans he was 'very involved' in writing the first Harry Potter book
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND: The ex-husband of author JK Rowling, Jorge Arantes, has claimed that he helped the author write the first book ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ in her multimillion dollar franchise and called his former spouse "delirious" for accusing him of holding the book “hostage.” He said, "The project was for seven books, and I was very involved with the first one and she knows that. She started writing it when we were together.”
Sharing the details, Arantes told Daily Mail, “When she was writing the book, I was participating in it, she was reading it out to me, and I was reading it to her. The first book was fascinating; the writing was wonderful, and I always liked it because we shared a passion for literature, and especially literature for children.” Arantes' statements come after Rowling recently revealed that Arantes held 'Harry Potter' manuscript hostage to stop her from leaving him during the podcast, 'The Witch Trials of JK Rowling,' whose first two episodes were released on February 21.
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Who is Jorge Arantes?
According to The Sun, Arantes is Rowling's first husband. The former couple met in Porto, Portugal, when he was a student and was 23. They got married in 1992 and a year later got divorced. Arantes, who is the father of Rowling's 27-year-old daughter Jessica Isabel, is a former Portuguese TV reporter but there are not much details about his current scenario.
'He took the manuscript and hid it and that was his hostage'
During the podcast, Rowling spoke about her marriage with Arantes and said, as quoted by DailyMail, "The marriage had turned very violent and very controlling. He's searching my handbag every time I come home. I haven't got a key to my own front door because he's got to control the front door. And I think he's not a stupid person. I think he knew, or suspected, that I was going to try and bolt again. And yet the manuscript kept growing. I'd continue to write. In fact, he knew what that manuscript meant to me because at one point he took the manuscript and hid it and that was his hostage."
She said that he would secretly "take a few pages of the manuscript into work every day – just a few pages so that he wouldn't realise anything was missing – and photocopy it. And gradually in a cupboard in the staff room, bit by bit, a photocopied manuscript grew and grew and grew, because I suspected that, if I wasn't able to get out with everything, he would burn it or take it or hold it hostage. That manuscript still meant so much to me. That was the thing that I actually prioritised for saving. The only thing I prioritised beyond that, obviously, was my daughter, but at that point she's still inside me, so she's as safe as can be in that situation."
Describing the night she left that house, Rowling said, "There came a night where he became very angry with me and I cracked and I said 'I want to leave.' He became very violent and he said, 'You can leave but you're not getting Jessica, I'm keeping her, I will hide her.' So I put up a fight and I paid the price. There was a violent scene which terminated with me lying in the street. I went to the police and filed a complaint and the next day went back to the house with the police and got Jessica."
'She is delirious from three years of COVID lockdown'
Arantes, who admitted to slap Rowling, told DailyMail that the claim was outrageous. “I don’t know why she is saying what she is now, maybe she is delirious from three years of COVID lockdown. I was surprised when I read about this. I deny it. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would I do something like that? Maybe you should ask her.”