Belle de Jour Blogger Unmasked

Billie Piper as Belle de Jour in the TV series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"

For several years, Belle de Jour has been among the most popular and controversial bloggers in the United Kingdom. The 34 year old upscale escort hiding behind her blogging pseudonym wrote candid posts about developments in Britain’s sex trade and managed to turn her blog into a film starring Billie Piper, as well as a lucrative book deal. But what Belle de Jour’s readers never knew was that this edgy blogger was actually a full-time cancer researcher and developmental neuro-toxicology specialist working for a hospital in Bristol.

Dr. Brooke Magnanti decided to reveal her blogging activities earlier this week, as well as her true identity, prompting shock among her readers and making headlines everywhere, from Britain’s Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, to Canada’s National Post newspaper. Dr. Magnati felt forced to reveal her identity, for fear that her ex-boyfriend may pre-empt her and disclose the popular blogger’s real job.

Dr. Magnanti explained that she had no choice but to turn to the sex trade, in order to pay for her PhD education. Originally from the United States, the blogger completed her doctoral studies at the University of Sheffield. Paul Magnanti, the Belle de Jour’s father, still lives in Florida and he learned about his daughter’s blogging activities from the press, only to express his shock that the girl he had once sent to a Roman Catholic convent for her elementary education would turn to the sex trade.

The good news for Dr. Magnanti is that the nurses, doctors and researchers at the British Initiative for Child Health have decided to stand by their colleague. They noted that nothing in the blogger’s past has impacted her ability to conduct quality medical research.