Selina Scott on Trump, Prince Andrew and Frank Bough ffs
Selina Scott on Trump, Prince Andrew and Frank Bough ffs
There were other successes, notably a documentary made for ITV about Donald Trump in 1995. He expected a puff piece, but she exposed him as a liar who owed the banks hundreds of millions of dollars. Despite everything, she concluded, we write him off at our peril.
In the opening shot, he hugged her tight as he introduced her to a boardroom of decrepit investors. She folded her arms around herself for protection. Did he proposition her? “Yes, I suppose he did.” What did he say? “Well, you can imagine. We were in his plane and …” Long silence. “I can’t remember, Simon. It’s far too long ago.” Her phone rings. She answers, and returns with a smile. “Saved by the bell,” she says.
Trump hated the documentary. Did he try to destroy her career afterwards? “I think so. Of course, the men at ITV were total cowards. He threatened them with legal action. It was supposed to be shown in the States, but ITV ran scared. And he slagged me off on television.” Did she mind? “Of course. I thought that was absolutely disgraceful. This was a documentary. Would they have done it to someone like Paxman?”
For more than a year, Scott says, Trump wrote her increasingly abusive letters, which she describes as “perverted”. What kind of things did he say? “My career is great, you’re a scumbag, you’re a loser, you’re seedy. Stuff like that. It was just like a stalker. He finally gave up when I said: ‘Stop stalking me mentally.’”