J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, told a British media inquiry Thursday a reporter once slipped a note into her daughter's bag.
Rowling told the government investigative panel she has struggled to protect her children from the consequences of her celebrity to the point of covering them with blankets to shield them from photographers, the BBC reported. She said she was furious someone had used her 5-year-old daughter to try to reach her.
"They have no choice over who their parents are or how their parents behave," Rowling said. "A child, no matter who their parents are, deserves privacy. Where children are concerned the issue is fairly black and white."
The inquiry was inspired by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal but has extended to other forms of media intrusion. Rowling said she and her husband had been called by reporters posing as postal workers and tax investigators.
Actress Sienna Miller testified she accused friends of leaking information to the media before she knew her phones were hacked.
Despite changing her cellphone number three times, Miller said stories about her private life still were published in newspapers, The Guardian reported.
"Horribly, I accused my friends and family of leaking stories," Miller told the inquiry.
She testified she learned from police her phone was breached. Information gathered by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, hired by the tabloid, included copies of her personal identification number to her voicemail and phone numbers of 10 friends and family members.
Miller settled for about $155,500 in damages and costs earlier this year.
The BBC reported a witness identified as HJK had testified in a closed session because the witness' identity was protected by a court order.
Celebrity lawyer Mark Thomson, whose phones were also hacked, told the panel some of the more damaging information appeared in online platforms of larger publications.
Thomson represented Miller and others in invasion-of-privacy lawsuits against British media.
He said the Press Complaint Commission needs more teeth to be effective.
"The PCC wear too many hats, they appear to act for the media," he said. "They appear to be their trade union spokesman; other times they act as [an] independent, they try and mediate."
Former Formula 1 chief Max Mosley testified about his action against News of the World over a 2008 article falsely accusing him of participating in a "sick Nazi orgy." He won $93,200 in damages.