J.K. Rowling Talked About Fangirling Over Morrissey In A New Interview

J.K Rowling - In Conversation
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NEWSFLASH: A British teenager who was really into books was also really into The Smiths.

That’s what J.K. Rowling revealed in an interview with The Guardian while discussing how childhood and teenage fandom follows people into adulthood. While the topic was brought up in regards to Rowling’s own Harry Potter books, she likened it to her obsession with The Smiths and talked about how it felt to meet Morrissey.

Rowling described meeting the legendary singer and slightly-less-gifted novelist in a department store:

“We were looking at each other, getting nearer and nearer, and at almost exactly the same moment we both put out our hands. What was amazing to me was, Morrissey knew who I was. I was with my sister-in-law and she said, ‘Put. Your. Hand. Down.’ I was walking around afterwards with my hand out, like that … I said, ‘Morrissey touched me!’ She said, ‘I know, you look stupid.’”

Rowling said that the meeting made her want to travel back in time to her 16-year-old self and tell her about the meeting.

“I wanted to go back to my 16-year-old self who’s lying there in the dark with the joss sticks, listening to ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,’ and tell her, ‘You’ll meet him! He’ll know who you are!’”

Rowling used her fangirl moment to defend the adults who still get excited over Harry Potter.

“I absolutely understand why someone who is hanging on to Harry Potter as a safe place at 13 is excited at 21 to talk about what [Hogwarts] house they’d be in. I don’t think it’s infantile. I don’t think it’s any more infantile than me being excited to meet Morrissey,” she said.

(Via Billboard)

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