‘Call Girl’ author exposes herself as British scientist

Solving what may be one of the most engaging mysteries in popular television, a British scientist has finally stepped forward  to prove she’s Showtime’s favorite tramp, Belle de Jour.

Brooke Magnanti, who wrote the original blog posts detailing her secret life as a call girl, referring to herself only  as the mysterious ‘Belle’ has now told the British newspaper, The Sunday Times, she finally decided to step out of the shadows and reveal herself as the source of Showtime’s sordid hit, ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl.’ due to fears that a greedy ex-boyfriend would expose her instead.

The 34-year-old scientist says she feels relieved, “to be able to defend what my experience of sex work is like to all the skeptics and doubters.” She also said her co-workers had been “amazingly kind and supportive” about the news of her previously unknown second life.

Brooke, who now works solely as a child health researcher specializing in toxicology and cancer research at a University in western England, told the reporters she moonlighted as a call girl for more than a year while finishing her PhD. The lurid blog posts detailing this secret life soon mesmerized millions and spawned three bestselling books, and since its American debut in 2007 the British-made TV series has become one of Showtime’s biggest hits.

But in case you’re one of her legions of fans, have no fear — Belle de Jour is not finished yet: Ms. Magnanti, who is now writing a novel, says she will continue to blog a bit longer; “I’d like Belle to have a happy ending,” she confirmed to the scribes.