A lot is going on for J.K. Rowling at the moment, what with the recent publication of Lethal White, the most recent Robert Galbraith book, and the approaching premiere of The Controversies Crimes of Grindelwald. And now she’s got one more item on her list: a lawsuit against her former personal assistant, Amanda Donaldson, for over $30,000.
Rowling is accusing Donaldson of taking advantage of her access to Rowling’s personal bank accounts by using them to buy herself fancy makeup, fancy candles, and two fancy cats. It is currently unknown whether the cats were bought together or if the second cat was purchased after it was decided that a single cat was not enough.
Amanda the Menace | Image Via The Sun
Donaldson is defending herself by claiming that all expenses were business-related. Clearly these were business cats, you guys.
In the interest of playing fair to both parties, here’s a hot take: maybe just let her have it? I mean really, who is she hurting? Listen, I have no idea how many dollars (or pounds, I suppose) an assistant makes, but probably not as much as J.K. Rowling. According to Forbes, she was worth $650 million dollars last year; that is an amount of money my tiny poor brain can’t even conceptualize. Also, J.K. Rowling didn’t even notice the money was missing! These expenses were brought to her attention by accountants, because of course if you are making an amount of money up in the high hundred millions, you’re hardly going to miss 30k. By the way, by my calculations, 30k is only 0.00461538461538% of 650 million.
I cannot help but admire Donaldson in all this, I mean, two cats! Joanne the Scammer would be proud. Maybe I’m projecting.
Image via Giphy
Kidding aside, the lawsuit matters more in the principal sense than the fiduciary sense. While I’m sure Rowling is not terribly put out by the financial loss, the invasion of privacy conducted by Donaldson is certainly troubling. The lawsuit is likely going to be a long one, as lawsuits always are, but hopefully a solution is found eventually.
Featured Image Via DailyMail.co.uk and The Telegraph