CARL COURT/AFP/Getty ImagesJ.K. Rowling feels "fully vindicated" and says her "reputation has been restored" after the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail's apology to her over an article about her time as a single mother was read in London's high court as part of a libel settlement.
The 49-year-old Harry Potter author made her comments in a statement that a solicitor read on her behalf on Thursday, BBC News reported. This marked another legal victory against the outlet's parent company, which had filed an appeal against a London high court ruling that stated she could have a unilateral statement read in open court "in the terms of the draft she had submitted" for approval. Last week, the Court of Appea dismissed the newspaper's bid.
"In these circumstances and this statement having been read out in court, [Rowling] now considers that she has been fully vindicated, her reputation has been restored and accordingly is happy to bring these proceedings to a close," her solicitor said.
Rowling had two children with husband Neil Michael Murray and has a daughter from a previous marriage.
The Daily Mail had last year printed an apology and paid damages to Rowling over a 2013 article titled "How J.K. Rowling's Sob Story About Her Past as a Single Mother Has Left the Churchgoers Who Cared for Her Upset and Bewildered." The report was based on an essay Rowling wrote for a Gingerbread, a single parents' charity in which she serves as president, describing her past experiences.
"Our September 28, 2013 article...suggested that J.K. Rowling had made a knowingly false and inexcusable claim in an article for the Gingerbread charity that people at her church had stigmatized her and cruelly taunted her for being a single mother," The Daily Mail said in its apology. "In fact, Ms. Rowling recounted only one incident where a visitor to the church stigmatized and taunted her on a particular day."
"We accept that Ms. Rowling's article did not contain any false claims and apologize for any contrary suggestion and have agreed to pay substantial damages to Ms. Rowling, which she is donating to charity, and a contribution to her legal costs," the outlet added.