Plenty of fans revere author JK Rowling for the amazing world she crafted with 'Harry Potter.' But her legacy extends beyond the wizarding world and into the real world, too.
Part of Rowling's impressive backstory is that she penned the 'Harry Potter' series at random coffee shops while raising her kids as a single mum and living off welfare. Whether that's entirely true or a bit of an embellishment remains a source of discussion among fans these days.
Whatever her origin story, JK's rise to fame has earned her hundreds of millions. From the books she penned to the movies that followed after, not to mention merchandise, JK's wealth started to grow. The 'Fantastic Beasts' films and Universal Studios' Wizarding World are also big money-makers for the author.
Formerly near-homeless, Rowling was able to sell the US rights to 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' to Scholastic for a $100K payday, noted Business Insider. At that point, JK was able to buy an apartment. These days, though, she's buying a lot more than a modest UK abode.
As Business Insider elaborates, JK Rowling's net worth is somewhere between hundreds of millions and more than a billion.
A lot of that cash is divvied up among multiple properties in England and Scotland, but Rowling is also quite willing to square up her tax bill, which is an understandably significant amount.
In fact, Rowling pays a 45 percent tax rate, says Business Insider, and she's fine with that, since the government helped her release 'Harry Potter.'
While her PR rep won't discuss the author's finances, Business Insider broke down her income to explain how Rowling has accumulated at least a billion dollars throughout her career. She's unloading the dough almost as fast as she's earning it, though.
JK donates millions to charity, covers that aforementioned tax bill, owns multiple hundred-acre properties, rents luxury accommodations for vacations to the Hamptons and Galapagos Islands, among other luxe destinations, and donates money to politicians she endorses.
These days, Rowling has pared down her net worth to somewhere around $670 million, though Celebrity Net Worth still maintains she has $1B.
Still, she hasn't slunk away into the shadows to count her coins. She's penned new books some under a pen name), partnered with charitable foundations (including opening a clinic in memory of her mom), and opened her own charity, Lumos, to campaign for children's rights.
And, Rowling is keeping the magic alive with 'Harry Potter at home' for the quarantine kiddies. Despite backlash for her purported transphobia, fans argue that JK doesn't deserve all the hate she gets, like her abusive ex spouting off about her in the media.
After all, the woman is human, and despite her missteps, she has done a whole lot of good in the world (due in part to her epic cash flow).