B<\/span>efore Harry Potter was a best-selling series with a multimillion-dollar business, theme parks, and several movies to its name, The Boy Who Lived was no more than an a couple of sentences, scribbled between the pages of a notebook.<\/p>\n Long before her rise to fame, J. K. Rowling, author of history\u2019s best-selling fantasy series, spent several years as a single mother fighting her way out of poverty. Within the span of five years, Rowling went from relative poverty to the world\u2019s first\u2014and only\u2014billionaire who made her fortune from selling books. Hers is the literal rags to riches story.<\/p>\n However, her tragic past hasn\u2019t hindered Rowling in the slightest. In addition to publishing seven books in the Harry Potter series, two crime novels, and several tie-ins that expand the magical world of Harry Potter, Rowling has become an active philanthropist.<\/p>\n It may seem odd, or even strange, for Healthy Aging<\/em>\u00a0to use a fantasy author as the cover for our magazine. However, Rowling\u2019s actions are exactly why Healthy Aging<\/em> chose her for this month\u2019s cover. Rowling\u2019s determination, her resilience, and her activism are qualities every single one of us can aspire to.<\/p>\n Photo: Shutterstock, Featureflash Photo Agency<\/p><\/div>\n Born in Yate, Glouchester to an aircraft engineer and a science technician, Rowling\u2019s early life was a happy one. She attended St. Michael\u2019s Primary school and later, Wyedean School and College. In between classes and school work, Rowling wrote short stories that she read to her little sister, Diane.<\/p>\n Rowling, while never an exceptional student, did excel in her writing and language courses. She was even made Head Girl\u2014a British term for young girls who frequently represent their schools at public events.<\/p>\n Despite her success, Rowling often describes her teenage years as troubled and with good reason. In 1980, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Additionally, her relationship with her father was strained. Later, when Rowling achieved international fame, the two would not speak for nine years after her father sold an early edition of Harry Potter<\/em> to pay of his debts\u2014they later reconciled in early 2012.<\/p>\n Rowling wasn\u2019t always the best-selling author we\u2019ve come to know and love. Before Harry Potter, Rowling was just Joanne (or, more commonly, \u201cJo\u201d), a worker for Amnesty International. She was, essentially, a normal, everyday Englishwomen. And, like many others, she\u2019s had her share of troubled times.<\/p>\n Within seven years, Rowling lost her mother, gave birth to her daughter Jessica, filed for divorce, lost her job, and went on state benefits. During this time period, she moved to a little flat in Edinburgh to be closer to her sister. It was here, in the city of Edinburgh, that the majority of Harry Potter<\/em> was written.<\/p>\n Between counseling, filing paperwork to enter a teaching program, working part time as a secretary, and taking care of her daughter, Rowling would write. Every day, she\u2019d strap Jessica into her stroller and wander around town until her daughter fell asleep.<\/p>\n Then, she\u2019d walk over to Nicholson\u2019s Cafe, or, sometimes, The Elephant House, and began to write. It was here, in between cups of coffee and notebook pages, that the first few chapters of Harry Potter<\/em> were completed.<\/p>\n There are many misconceptions that surround this time in Rowling\u2019s life, and it is only appropriate to dispel them. Many claim that Rowling was homeless or that her flat was never heated. Both assumptions are false. As she is quick to remind those who interview her, Rowling was never, at any point in her life, homeless or incapable of paying for heat. Rowling was poor enough to apply for state benefits but never incapable of caring for her daughter.<\/p>\n Rowling often states that, during these years, she felt like a failure. With no job, a failed marriage, and a child to support, Rowling felt hopeless. It was during the ’90s that she developed clinical depression and seriously contemplated suicide. However, it was her illness along with the other tragedies of her life that would have the greatest influence over the Harry Potter storyline. As many writers do, Rowling chose to channel her troubles into her work. When Rowling\u2019s mother passed away in 1990, her grief became Harry Potter\u2019s longing to know his parents. Her struggles with mental health, specifically depression, became the inspiration for dementors. Dementors, the terrifying guards of the fictional prison, Azkaban, feed on happy memories and make people miserable and helpless\u2014much like depression leaves its victims, as Rowling describes, without hope.<\/p>\n When Rowling finally finished the last chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone in 1995, published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone<\/em> in America, she sent the manuscript to 12 publishing houses in the U.K, all of whom rejected her.<\/p>\n Even in the face of rejection, Rowling never gave up on Harry Potter<\/em>. A year later, Harry Potter was finally accepted by Bloomsbury, a publishing house in the middle of London. In 1997, 1,000 copies of Harry Potter<\/em> were released to the general public. However, Rowling wouldn\u2019t become an international sensation until 2001 when The New York Times<\/em> listed the first four books of the Harry Potter<\/em> series on their children\u2019s chapter book best-sellers list.<\/p>\n These days, between penning short stories, working on numerous scripts for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them<\/em>, and ruling the Twittersphere, Rowling donates her time\u2014and money\u2014to charity. Since Rowling has first-hand experience with poverty, she\u2019s spent much of her time paying it forward.<\/p>\n Rowling has donated to many causes, including children, the arts, education, cancer, HIV & AIDS, homelessness, refugees, and many more. In fact, Rowling no longer qualifies as a billionaire, because she donated so much to charity. In 2011, Rowling donated an estimated 16 percent of her worth, which added up to $160 million .<\/p>\n Some specific charities Rowling has supported include Book Aid International, Children with AIDS, Make a Child Smile, the Women\u2019s Fund for Scotland, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2015 alone, Rowling donated \u00a310.3 million , or $12,597,415 million.<\/p>\n Additionally, her written works that support charities, such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them<\/em>, Quidditch Through the Ages<\/em>, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard<\/em> raised $30 million alone.<\/p>\n [awesome-gallery id=5023]\n JK Rowling appears at Lumos functions which she co-founded in 2005<\/p><\/p>\n In 2005, Rowling co-founded Lumos, an NGO that focuses on transforming the lives of children who live in institutions and orphanages. Though Lumos originally operated out of Eastern and Central Europe, trying to repair countries placing children in institutions rather than attempting to keep families together, it now operates as a global organization. The Lumos website<\/a>\u00a0offers more information on their good works, how to donate, and how to volunteer.<\/p>\n![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shutterstock_89959006-Featureflash-Photo-Agency-750w.jpg\")
The Brightest of Her Age<\/h4>\n
The Darkest of Times<\/h4>\n
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Better Days Ahead<\/h4>\n