US writer Judy Blume has pledged her support to JK Rowling over the online abuse she has received for her gender-critical views.

Blume has herself been criticised for including social and sexual issues facing her young readership in her work, and has defended her fellow author facing a “tough time”.

She said she is “100 per cent behind” Rowling as she faces online abuse for raising concerns about women’s spaces and gender ideology.

In January, the Harry Potter author reported an online death threat to Police Scotland and has previously compared the online insults she received to the domestic abuse she previously suffered.

Voicing her solidarity with Rowling, Blume told the Sunday Times: “I love her. I am behind her 100 per cent as I watch from afar.”

She added that while she was “not up on every word that’s been said” in the debate over gender ideology in which Rowling has become embroiled, it can be said “that [Rowling is] a victim of Twitter”.

The writer argued that many people who criticise Rowling on the social media platform do not do so on the basis of what she “actually said”, but “because people believe what they read on Twitter”.

Blume has said that she understood Rowling and her sister to have been fans of her work when they were both young and expressed a wish to show support for the under-fire author, saying: “I haven’t been in touch with her during this tough time. Probably I should.”

The US author has received criticism throughout her career for writing young adult works which touch on mature subjects, including menstruation, which appears in her famous work Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. The 1970 novel is now being adapted for the screen.