Posted by The Bristol research scientist who revealed herself to be author of the best-selling Belle de Jour books has said she misses the satisfaction of “doing a job well” since giving up prostitution.
Dr Brooke Magnanti will make her first public appearance since revealing her identity tonight on Sky Arts 1’s The Book Show.
During the interview, she will tell how said she “misses the moment when you walk into a hotel, and get that feeling of, ‘I’m about to do a job and I’m about to do it well’”.
Earlier this month, Dr Magnanti told the Sunday Times she had decided to come out of the shadows to reveal herself as a Bristol research scientist working at the Initiative for Research of Child Health.
She added that anonymity was “no fun”, but had no regrets, saying it felt “so much better on the other side”.
In tonight’s interview, Dr Magnanti will also tell how playing the character of Belle allowed her to show off the confident side of her personality which she had never enjoyed in her ‘real’ life.
“It isn’t that Belle wasn’t me – Belle is the more confident part of me,” she says. “Belle isn’t the part of me that when someone opens the door, is thinking: ‘do I look alright?’ Belle has to walk in and feel she looks alright.”
Six years ago, in the final stages of her PhD thesis, Dr Magnanti ran out of money and turned to prostitution through a London escort agency, charging £300 an hour.
Already an experienced science blogger, she began writing about her experiences in a web diary that was adapted into books and a television drama starring Billie Piper.
- The Book Show, 7pm tonight, Sky Arts 1/HD.
Further reading
I don’t understand why, if she misses being a prostitute so much, she doesn’t go back to it. Presumably she has nothing to lose and much to gain.