ROWLING DENIES EX-HUSBAND INSPIRED CHARACTER

HARRY POTTER author J.K. ROWLING has dismissed speculation she used her ex-husband as inspiration for one of her literary villains.

The 42-year-old writer has been accused of basing her character Gilderoy Lockhart, an overly vain wizard, on her former husband Jorge Arantes, who she married in 1992.

She says, "None of the characters in my books are based on my ex.

"Whatever happened in our marriage, the truth is my ex-husband contributed 50 per cent to on one of the most beautiful things in my life, my eldest daughter.

"I'd never use him in a fairytale. He's her father."

Rowling and Arantes married in 1992 and lived as man and wife for less than two years, during which she gave birth to her first daughter Jessica.