JK Rowling's former husband has reportedly admitted he 'slapped her' when they were a couple but says he 'isn't sorry'.
Jorge Arantes was being grilled on his mother's doorstep in Porto, Portugal, when he is said to have made the shocking revealtion.
It comes less than a day after the Harry Potter author claimed she'd endured domestic abuse during her first marriage.
The Sun says that Arantes, a former TV journalist, said: "I slapped Joanne – but there was not sustained abuse.
"I’m not sorry for slapping her."
He added: "Yes. It is true I slapped her. But I didn’t abuse her."
"If she says that, that’s up to her. It’s not true I hit her."
The pair met while he was a student aged 23 in Porto. They married in 1992 and separated in 1993.
Arantes is the father to the Harry Potter author's 27-year-old daughter.
Rowling, 54, opened up about her alleged domestic abuse and sexual assault turmoil in a recent blog post.
She penned the frank discussion after being slammed for 'transphobic' comments she made on social media.
The writer said that she and other survivors are "slurred as bigots" when they argue for the need of single sex public spaces such as toilets and changing rooms.
She wrote: "I've been in the public eye now for over 20 years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.
"This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember.
"I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage. I didn't want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too.
"However, a short while ago, I asked her how she'd feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life and she encouraged me to go ahead."
