Back then: After Rowling's marriage ended in divorce, she moved her daughter to Edinburgh, Scotland, and got hard at work on the first of her best-selling Harry Potter books. During that time, the struggling writer was committed to completing her book and was forced to live on welfare.

Now: She is now one of the richest women in Britain after the Harry Potter books sold over 300m copies worldwide. This summer Rowling will finally close the book on Harry Potter, with 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' the seventh and final book in the series, which hits shelves in July.