Author J.K. Rowling hasn't shied away from dark subjects like death and torture in her books, and she's just as up front about the darker side of her personal life.

In an interview with an Ediburgh University student magazine, Rowling reveals the suicidal depths of her depression many years ago, before she became the author of the best-selling "Harry Potter" books, report British newspapers.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable,'" she told 22-year-old student Adeel Amini. "Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted."

At the time, Rowling had separated from her first husband and was so strapped for cash, her friends had to help pay for the security deposit on her apartment rental. In a previous interview, the author has admitted that the feelings brought about by her clinical depression inspired the horrifying Dementors, soulless creatures in the Potter-verse that magically suck the hope and joy out of their victims.

"The thing that made me go for help was probably my daughter," says Rowling, referring to her firstborn Jessica. "She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn't right, this can't be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state."

With the help of a therapist, Rowling was able to overcome her illness and is more than eager to share her story with fans.

"The funny thing is, I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never," she says. "I think I'm abnormally shameless on that account because what's to be ashamed of?"

Rowling, 42, published the seventh and final book in the renowned children's series last summer. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be split into two films when it's adapted for the screen.