J.K. Rowling: ‘Harry Potter success is bittersweet without mum’s presence’

The huge success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise will always be “bittersweet” because her mother died before she became a published author.
The Brit has long shared how much she struggled financially before the first novel in the boy wizard series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was released in 1997, a few years after losing her mum Anne, who had suffered from neurological condition multiple sclerosis.
Rowling became a literary sensation as readers around the world fell in love with the Harry Potter stories, which spawned eight books and went on to be adapted for Hollywood.
She has since expanded the franchise with the Fantastic Beasts prequel books and accompanying films, but Rowling will always regret not having her mother witness her career explosion.
“I was working on it (the first Harry Potter book) for six months before she died and I hadn’t told her,” Rowling shared on breakfast show Today.
However, the writer admits the passing of her mum inspired so much of her writing, she doubts the Harry Potter series would have turned out so well had she not suffered that personal heartache, which she weaved into her books.
“I think the last time I got quite teary about my mother’s passing was when I was given an honour at Buckingham Palace, and I thought, ‘My god, if my mother had known…!'” she recalled of being made a Companion of Honour in Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honours list last year (17). “It’s a moment like that you think, ‘Oh, what would she have said?'”
“It’s sad to me she never got to read the books,” Rowling added, “but life is weird, because the books wouldn’t be what they are if she hadn’t passed on, so it’s a bittersweet situation.”