Last weekend, the once-anonymous writer behind the Secret Diary Of A Call Girl books revealed her real identity. Now everyone in the world knows 34-year-old neurotoxicologist Dr. Brooke Magnanti penned the insanely popular blog, Diary Of A London Call Girl, under the nom de plume “Belle du Jour.” (Which, of course, turned into a Showtime TV show starring Billie Piper.) As is to be expected, newspapers tracked down Magnanti’s dad, Paul, and he professed shock at the news that his daughter slept with people for cash while earning her Ph.D.

But then Brooke Magnanti’s dad dropped a somewhat awkward bomb in the middle of this call girl tale: He and his daughter have been estranged for years because she was upset that he’d slept with over 150 prostitutes, some of whom were drug addicted.

It’s pretty remarkable that after the success of the blog Diary of a London Call Girl, and its subsequent book deal and TV series, “Belle,” the writer behind it, managed to remain anonymous until this morning. So why did cancer researcher Brooke Magnanti decide to out herself now? Because an ex she’d written about extensively was threatening to do it for her. While Magnanti gave the scoop to the Times of London, it was the Daily Mail who tracked down this boyfriend to find out how he feels about all of this. He’s frightened and furious.

For years, only six people knew the true identity of Belle, an anonymous call girl who wrote about her adventures in sex work at the blog Diary of a London Call Girl. While her blog became an international hit, she published several books, and Showtime picked up a TV series based on the book called “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” only half a dozen people in the world knew the real Belle! Many assumed the nom de plume concealed a raunchy male identity; one popular theory was that Toby Young, the former Vanity Fair journalist and author of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, penned the blog and books.

But this weekend, Belle finally outed herself—yes, herself. “There is ... an ex-boyfriend with a big mouth lurking in the background,” the Times of London reported and “outing herself while she still has a measure of control over how it happens seems the sensible option.”

Drumroll, please ...

“Secret Diary Of A Call Girl” star Billie Piper looks more like a busted Billie Holiday with that bouquet in her hair, but we are excited our favorite whore is taping a new season of Belle du Jour’s sexcapades. [London, UK, 4/29/09]

Last night on “Secret Diary Of A Call Girl,” Belle gave up the world’s oldest profession. Why would she quit her lucrative career so willingly? Was it the sex party with Bambi that went violently awry? Is she just sick of the biz and her madame? Is she afraid her family is close to finding out her secret now that her politician ex-client has been busted in the newspaper? Nope, none of that stopped her. It was a M-A-N! The high class hooker threw away her career and took a typical, entry-level office job with a jerk boss just to show her ex-boyfriend she still loved him. Of all the things we’ve seen this whore do to please a guy, this takes the cake! 

But we’ve all done crazy/dumb/desperate things to try to win a boyfriend back, haven’t we? I may or may not have once drunkenly dedicated my karaoke version of “I Touch Myself” to a dude.  What’s the most ridiculously extreme thing you’ve ever done to try to get a guy back? Or what has a dude done to win YOUR heart after having lost it? Fill us Frisky gals in in the comments!

Saturday

MUSIC

• Ximena Sarinana Mediocre The Mexican actress is from cinematic royalty, but with this album she truly makes a name for herself. Like a Latina Fiona Apple, her album of jazzy, seductive grinds translates even though it’s in Spanish.

Months after the Spitzer scandal broke and call girls became the new black, Radar offers up the strange tale of a wannabe working girl in “Secrets of a Hipster Hooker.” Written by Jessica Pilot, the feature is an awkward mix of personal narrative and words from the mouths of so-called “hipster hookers.” It begins with Pilot meeting her would-be, thirty-something, Gucci bag-toting madam at a vegan restaurant, a woman who, it turns out, is a “consultant for a major news media organization.”

On Monday night’s third episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Belle had an overnight job with a client—who only seemed to want to sleep. Bored out of her mind, Belle went downstairs to get a drink and meets another man who wants to hire her straight away. This is clearly the call girl’s version of when you have Friday night plans with that guy you’ve been seeing, but then that hot guy from work asks if you want to hang out and you agree to both without really considering the logistics. In the clip above, Belle explains the three rules of conversation with a client, which also totally apply to first dates as well. [Showtime: Secret Diary Of A Call Girl]

The second episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl aired last night on Showtime, and Belle came out of it as a really endearing character. Basically, she goes to a sex party with a creepy, clingy guy. At the party, she meets and starts hooking up with her favorite author and a couple other people (yes, an orgy). She ditches her date,  the guy who paid her to go with him to the party (he’ll get a refund, I’m sure) to go home with the author and his friend. As they’re getting into the car, she gets a bunch of messages from her family saying her sister’s having a baby. She abandons the hot author and the prospect of having an orgy, and goes straight to the hospital wearing her feather-accented outfit. I was really proud of Belle for leaving, even though her sister was pissed that she wasn’t there for the actual birth.

I have a new favorite show, well, for now. Secret Diary Of A Call Girl debuted last night and I love it. A British import based on the blog by call girl Belle Du Jour. Billie Piper plays Belle (real name: Hannah), a call girl who loves sex, loves money, and loves having sex for money. Does the show glamorize prostitution? At first glance, i.e. the first episode, sure. But Belle is a high-class call girl—as she reminds us in the clip above—and isn’t exactly trolling the streets having sex to feed her drug habit. I’ve read that the show will start to reveal that Belle has a hard time keeping her professional life and her personal life as Hannah separate, but in the meantime, I found the show hilarious, sexy (oh goodness, there is much nakedness), and smart—and Billie Piper has some serious acting chops. Check out the clip above and if you like what you see, head on over to Showtime and watch the first two episodes for free. [Showtime: Secret Diary Of A Call Girl]

Secret Diary of a Call Girl, the new show about a high-class hooker in London, premieres on Showtime next week. The Frisky was lucky enough to get a sneak preview earlier this week, and now you can too (definitely NSFW though) at SHO.com. Here are three of the best lines from the series premiere:

1. “The first thing you should know about me is that I’m a whore.”
2. “I always use men’s deodorant, never perfume. A professional never lets her client leave smelling of women.”
3. “Convince him you’re wet and you’re halfway there.”

To watch the first two episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, visit SHO.com. The series officially airs Mondays at 10:30 pm right after Weeds.[Showtime]

Check out Showtime’s advertisement for the upcoming season of Weeds alongside their new show, British import The Secret Diary Of A Callgirl. Mary-Louise Parker is sublime and we’re super psyched about the latter. Yay! New TV!