J. K. Rowling, the British writer and author of the Harry Potter fantasy series which had an insane success worldwide, admitted she had “suicidal thoughts” during a period of her life when she was bankrupt and miserable as a single mother.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable'," Rowling told an Edinburgh University student magazine.

Rowling, who is now the13th richest woman in Britain according to the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, talked about her mid-20s, a very tough stage of her life as she described it. After failing in her first marriage, Rowling was living in a cramped apartment with her very young daughter.

She paid the rent only after a friend gave her the £600 ($1,189) that she needed according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

Rowling confessed that the only thing that kept her going was the love for her daughter.
"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," said Rowling, whose fortune is now of about £545 million.

Rowling, 42, had discussed before about that dark period of her life, but never confessed she thought about killing her self. She said she tried counseling and found it "absolutely invaluable" at first because she had to see a replacement doctor due to the fact that her usual GP was on holiday.

However, after the holiday ended, her GP called her and helped her to "get out" of the depression. She went through cognitive behavioral therapy which means she attended sessions with a counselor which helped her counter negative thoughts.

Rowling, a woman who had “leanings towards depression”, urged anybody who has the same problem to seek professional help.

Rowling married Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes and in 1993 they had Jessica. Unfortunately the two divorced several months after their daughter’s birth. The marriage failure drove her to despair, but after seeking counseling things got better.

During that period she wrote the first Harry Potter book which was published in 1996.

Rowling remarried to British anesthesiologist Neil Murray in 2002. They are now loving parents to two children.

"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."

Rowling has become a remarkable philanthropist lately and she supports charities such as Comic Relief, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and, one more linked to her life story, One Parent Families.