J.K. Rowling, the author behind the beloved Harry Potter series, has once again found herself in the middle of public controversy. Earlier this week, she took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out Sky News for not mentioning that a convicted murderer was transgender. “I’m so sick of this s***. This is not a woman. These are NotOurCrimes,” she wrote. Her remarks quickly went viral, sparking a wave of mixed reactions online. While some people agreed with her, many others criticized her comments.
Though J.K. Rowling’s opinions often make headlines, her personal life has remained much more private. Her husband, Neil Murray, has especially stayed away from the spotlight despite being married to one of the most famous authors in the world.
Neil Murray is a Scottish doctor who prefers to live quietly and keep his life out of public attention. The two met through a mutual friend of J.K. Rowling’s sister, and their bond gradually grew stronger over time. Unlike Rowling, who has lived much of her life under media attention, Neil has kept a low profile throughout their relationship. The couple reportedly has an age gap of six years, with Rowling being older, and they have built a peaceful family life together in Edinburgh since the late 1990s.
Their love story is as private as their life together. On December 26, 2001 — Boxing Day — the couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony at her home in Scotland. Only about 15 guests were in attendance, including Rowling’s daughter Jessica from her previous marriage and Neil’s sister, Lorna. The wedding was kept extremely private, especially after Rowling’s earlier plan to marry during a vacation in the Galapagos Islands was leaked to the media.
Over the years, the couple has rarely shared details about their marriage, though Rowling has occasionally opened up about small, intimate moments. In a 2019 interview on BBC Radio 2, she recalled listening to Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine while cooking when Neil walked in and said the song reminded him of her. Together, they share two children — a son, David, born in 2003, and a daughter, Mackenzie, born in 2005.
Before her relationship with Neil, J.K. Rowling was married to Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes. The two met when she was working as an English teacher, but the marriage was troubled from the start. Rowling has spoken openly about suffering domestic abuse during that time and once revealed that her ex-husband tried to hide her Harry Potter manuscript to stop her from leaving. She eventually left him in 1993, divorced in 1995, and moved to Edinburgh to raise her daughter, Jessica, on her own.
From struggling single mother to one of the most successful authors in the world, Rowling’s journey has been marked by resilience — and through it all, Neil Murray has remained her steady, private partner, far from the noise of her public controversies.
