Will the real Belle de Jour please stand up?

Billie Piper does such a good job inhabiting the character of Belle de Jour on Secret Diary of a Call Girl, it’s hard to imagine anyone else as the saucy London escort. But a real woman lived those adventures — and blogged about them — well before Piper earned the role.

The Diary Season 3 premiere on Monday will feature Piper interviewing her real-life counterpart, Brooke Magnanti, who recently came out in the press. Turns out, the real Belle is a medical researcher with a Ph.D. who found the flexible hours and good pay of an escort quite appealing when she was doing her doctoral research. Now she’s an expert in cancer epidemiology.

Photo: Ed Miller/Showtime

Magnanti is one smart cookie — and one resilient lady. Just check out her take on the criticism that came her way when she revealed her identity:

• When someone says:
  “I have too much respect for myself ever to do that.”
  What they mean is:
  “My self-esteem is so fragile that stepping outside the mainstream would mess it up for life.”

[snip]

• When someone says:
  “Stories like this glamourise a trade that enslaves and kills women.”
  What they mean is:
  “I don’t actually know the difference between the separate issues affecting call girls, massage parlours, brothels, and streetwalkers, and I’m not going to bother finding out.”
• When someone says:
  “I wouldn’t pay £300 for that.”
  What they mean is:
  “I think a woman’s value, sexual or otherwise, is entirely based on her looks.”

Tune in Monday night for the Piper/Magnanti interview and the Season 3 premiere of Secret Diary of a Call Girl!