Bestselling author Dame Jilly Cooper has revealed she once feared a fellow writer would rape her in the back of a taxi.
Dame Jilly, now 87, said she was in her 20s and working for a major London publisher when the man, who she declined to name, lunged as they returned from lunch and tried to “tear off her clothes”.
He added: ‘He lunged at me and ripped my clothes open. It was horrible. I was terrified. When I got back to the office I was crying my eyes out and told my boss that someone had just tried to rape me.’
Dame Jilly, known for her best-selling bonkbusters such as Rivals, Riders and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, claimed her boss was initially sympathetic until she named the man who had sexually assaulted her.
Dame Jilly, now 87, said she was in her 20s and working for a major London publisher when the man, who she declined to name, lunged as they returned from lunch and tried to “tear off her clothes”.
Jilly Cooper on the Russell Harty Plus show in 1973 at the age of 36
“When they realized it was one of our authors, they had me out of that office in two seconds,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
When The Mail on Sunday contacted Dame Jilly last night, she played down the incident and again refused to name her attacker, saying: “I shouldn’t do it.” It was so long ago. He was an important author. He was very young.
“They didn’t try to rape me; they made a massive advance after lunch.”