Belle de Jour Rinses Out Her Kit

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London, England CNN — An erotic blogger whose double life as a prostitute became a hit TV series has ended years of fevered speculation by revealing her most intimate secret — her true identity.

Brooke Magnanti, a cancer specialist at a university in western England, unmasked herself in a British newspaper as the woman behind “Belle de Jour,” the salacious online diary of a high class call girl.

via Cancer scientist reveals secret life as prostitute – CNN.com.

In the early days of The Apartment and The Diner, I was a huge follower of “Belle de Jour”. I enjoyed her writing, her tales and her independence. She held nothing back, except maybe names of her clients, and the everyday anecdotes of boyfriends, dinners, underwear shopping never came off to me as salacious,  yet another fascinating peek into the life of an interesting person.

Sex work is legal in (parts of) the UK and as someone who (briefly) considered erotic dancing as a career (relax Mom, I’m over it) it was a nice change of pace to see someone writing about that aspect of the trade from a seemingly stable and well-adjusted vantage.

I wish her the best and in true Brit fashion:

Barry Taylor, director of communication and marketing at the University of Bristol said the revelations would not affect her employment.

“This aspect of Dr Magnanti’s past is not relevant to her current role at the university,” he said.

I love that.