Rowling: Suicidal thoughts in past

EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 23 (UPI) -- British author J.K. Rowling, creator of the "Harry Potter" literary series, has revealed she has harbored suicidal thoughts in the past.

The 42-year-old author said following the end of her first marriage during her 20s, she considered ending her life to deal with the emotional pain, Sky News reported Sunday.

"Mid-20s life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted," Rowling said of those troubled times.

The author, whose full name is Joanne Rowling, said the only thing that kept her life together at the time was her child.

"The thing that made me go for help ... was probably my daughter," she said.

"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."

The "Harry Potter" writer says she isn't embarrassed disclosing her troubled past, seeing it as a period of personal growth.

"What's to be ashamed of?" Rowling said. "I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that."