Author J.K. Rowling told a British media ethics inquiry Thursday that she felt "under siege" from persistent journalists who staked out her home and interfered with her family.
The "Harry Potter" author recalled how reporters would routinely sit outside her house after she published her first novel in 1997.
She told the tribunal that she felt a sense of invasion when one journalist went as far as to slip a letter into her 5-year-old daughter's school bag.
"It's very difficult to say how angry I felt that my five-year-old daughter's school was no longer a place of complete security from journalists," Rowling said.
Rowling is one of many celebrities testifying at an on-going investigation into Britain's notoriously competitive media landscape.
Prime Minister David Cameron arranged the inquiry shortly after phone-hacking allegations against Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid came to light last July.
Earlier on Thursday, actress Sienna Miller told the inquiry that experiencing years of relentless tabloid attention left her feeling violated and paranoid.
The "Alfie" star recalled how having her cellphone voicemails hacked by News of the World led her to accuse her loved ones of leaking information to the media.
From London's Royal Courts of Justice, Miller talked about how her relationship with fellow actor Jude Law made her the target of constant media surveillance.
"For a number of years I was relentlessly pursued by 10 to 15 men, almost daily," she told the inquiry. "Spat at, verbally abused.
"I would often find myself, at the age of 21, at midnight, running down a dark street on my own with 10 men chasing me. And the fact they had cameras in their hands made that legal."
The inquiry is being led by Justice Brian Leveson who plans to release a report next year that may recommend sweeping changes to media regulation in Britain.
Miller, who won damages for NoTW's illegal eavesdropping, is one of many high-profile witnesses testifying at the Leveson inquiry.
Formula One boss Max Mosley is also scheduled to speak to the tribunal. He started campaigning for a new privacy law after a British tabloid exposed his interest in sadomasochistic sex.
Paradoxically, the inquiry's star-studded list of speakers is generating just as much media attention and scrutiny as a tabloid scoop, Globe and Mail reporter Doug Saunders told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
"What is happening this week is we're getting a bunch of juicy stuff from a bunch of celebrities, in certain respects, it's the same thing that we had before," he said in a phone interview from London, England, where he is covering the trial.
Witnesses at the inquiry have included show-biz stars such as Hugh Grant but Saunders, said the public appears to be most intrigued with testimony from the parents of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler.
Dowler's parents told the court that their daughter's voicemails were accessed by NoTW after she vanished in 2002, giving them false hope that she was still alive.
The inquiry focuses on British media in general but the panel is hearing from several witnesses such as Miller who say journalists with the News International chain, in particular, have invaded their privacy.
Miller's testimony comes just a day after News International executive James Murdoch resigned as director of the companies that publish The Sun and The Times of London.
Saunders said that Murdoch's resignation is generating a lot of buzz in Britain.
"There's a lot of speculation because now, for the first time ever, there's no member of the Murdoch family on the boards of these newspapers," he said. "Either they're trying to distance themselves, or perhaps [they're] even getting ready to shut down another newspaper if a scandal hits."
With files from The Associated Press
