Rowling hits out a lone-parent stigma

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has said her self-esteem was eroded by the stigma of being a single mother and has hit out at the dim view society takes of lone parents.

The writer, who has become one of the wealthiest women in Britain on the back of her books, said she is more proud of the way she coped as a single parent than of any other part of her life.

Rowling, who is president of single-parent charity Gingerbread, called on the British government to do more to help people who find themselves in that situation to be able to get into employment.