Bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford has dismissed erotic romance 50 Shades Of Grey.
The ‘hero’ is every woman’s worst nightmare, in my opinion, although he’s rich
The writer, 80, who has penned 28 novels, amassing a £200 million (€234 million) fortune, said that the E L James’s novel was “terribly badly written”. She told the Radio Times that 50 Shades Of Grey, which became the top-selling book in Britain since records began, was “repetitive and not even sexy”.
“When the female character has her bottom smacked with a whip, it’s the end of the book, except her saying: ‘Holy cow!’ in excitement,” she told the magazine.
She said of the trilogy, a series of erotic romance dubbed ‘mummy porn “The ‘hero’ is every woman’s worst nightmare, in my opinion, although he’s rich.”
The author of A Woman of Substance also told the magazine that she believed that men and women were “wired differently”.
She said: “Some women can be a bit devious, especially if you’re successful. They’re jealous and envious, although they’d be afraid to display that with me. I’d punch them in the face.”
She added: “I used to think it was true what mummy said – ‘a woman makes a marriage work’ – but now I think the man has to put something into it, too.
“When my 31-year-old goddaughter has problems with her husband I tell her, ‘Keep your mouth shut and do your own thing’.”
“Men and women are wired differently… Last night I had haddock and chips at Scott’s and he (film producer husband Bob Bradford) suddenly got up. ‘Where are we going?’ I asked. ‘Home,’ he said. ‘You can sit here all night if you want’.
“I explained I couldn’t because someone would certainly pick me up. He said if that happened he’d come after them with a gun.”
The writer, who was awarded an OBE in 2007, said of her career: “I never had any harassment, or feeling up. It’s strange today that the slightest compliment can be seen as harassment. It’s this generation. I don’t know why.”
The bestselling author has recently been involved in ITV show Secrets From the Workhouse, in which she traces her mother’s history.
She said: “My mother was illegitimate – probably the daughter of the Marquess of Ripon for whom my grandmother, Edith, was a maid – and had been in a workhouse.
“I didn’t know any of that, but it explains a lot about the way my mother brought me up. She taught me to read at four... she dragged me to Studley Royal (home of the Marquess) and I didn’t know why at the time.”