Diary of a call girl

It emerged today that Helen Wood is going to set to appear on the next series of Big Brother, which begins this evening. Here’s her Spectator Diary from 2011, in which she explains how the daughter of a university lecturer ended up as a call girl. 

A few years ago I was offered £450,000 to tell the world that Wayne Rooney had paid to sleep with me, but I didn’t take it. Does that surprise you? It shouldn’t. Whatever impression Rooney and his sort give, escort girls are usually very discreet. A good reputation is invaluable. In my case, I knew that both my work and my home life would suffer if I kissed and told. My family and friends didn’t know I what I did (although some had suspicions) and if word got out, I would forever be thought of as a prostitute. When the papers started sniffing around, I applied for an injunction myself but guess what? I was rejected. So there’s one law for rich men — however badly they behave — and quite another for the women they sleep with. My name appeared in the tabloids when the story about Rooney broke. In an ideal world, no one would ever have known about my secret working life. But the world, as I’ve known it, is anything but ideal.

How could the daughter of a university lecturer end up selling sex? I get sick of being asked this question. But the truth is that being middle-class does not guarantee a happy childhood. My dad and I had a very volatile relationship and my mum just chose to be away from the house as much as possible. In my early teens, I began to run away from home and at 15 I was placed in foster care with a vicar and his wife.