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JK Rowling has admitted that she considered suicide following the break-up of her first marriage.
The Harry Potter author revealed that she she sank into a deep depression while struggling to cope as a single mum in her mid-20s.
She told an Edinburgh University student magazine: "We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable'."
Rowling, 42, said she had found counselling "absolutely invaluable" and credited baby daughter Jessica with helping her face up to her problems.
She said: "I definitely had leanings towards depression from quite an early age. Then, mid-20s, life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted. The thing that made me face the fact that this was not a normal state that I was in was probably my daughter."
She added that she was "not remotely ashamed" of her past problems, saying: "I went through a really rough time and I'm quite proud of the fact that I got out of that."
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, described Rowling as "brave" for speaking out, saying: "It might help younger people understand how you can feel with depression and how you can come out of a dark tunnel and be a success."
