Publicist to the famous makes own headlines
King of kiss-and-tell becomes fodder for UK’s tabloid press
MAX Clifford’s reputation as Britain’s most famous publicist has always hinged on his ability to keep his celebrity clients’ secrets under lock and key.
His media savvy has earned him millions and put dozens of A-list stars on his books— from Simon Cowell, Frank Sinatra and the Beatles to Muhammed Ali, Judy Garland and Marvin Gaye.
The PR guru also made his name by lifting the lid on explosive scandals.
But the king of “kiss-and-tell” was himself to become the very fodder he fed to Fleet Street for decades.
He was jailed for eight years this week for a series of indecent assaults against four teenage girls between 1977 and 1984.
The 71-year-old showed no emotion as the judge delivered the sentence, but grimaced and shook his head as details of the offences were read out.
Judge Anthony Leonard, in the Southwark Crown Court, told Clifford he had led a “double existence”, living an outwardly respectable existence while grooming young girls for abuse.
Despite leaving school aged 15 with no qualifications, the media mogul rose from humble beginnings to become a household name. After being unceremoniously fired from his first job, at Ely’s department store in Wimbledon, southwest London, Clifford soon secured a position on the Eagle comic.
He cut his teeth in PR at the EMI press office in 1962, where he was tasked with promoting an unknown band called the Beatles.
He married his first wife, Elizabeth Porter, in 1967. She died of lung cancer in 2003. She gave birth to his only child, Louise, now 43, and turned a blind eye to her husband’s catalogue of indiscretions.
He went on to set up his now world-famous PR agency, Max Clifford Associates, in 1970 — quickly realising that celebrity was a powerful commodity.
And he became a celebrity in his own right, thanks to stories such as the infamous front-page tabloid splash “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster”.
He boasted of his conquests in his book Read All About It, which contained carefully con- trolled revelations, including his “legendary” sex parties.
The publicist attracted further notoriety and even death threats after becoming embroiled in the OJ Simpson case. The US sports star was on a visit to Britain in 1996 after being acquitted of murdering his wife and Clifford agreed to represent him because, as he later said: “I was the only white person in the world who believed him to be innocent.”
He also helped to expose famously convicted paedophiles Gary Glitter and Jonathan King.
The court heard from a string of women who testified about Clifford’s behaviour, romping naked in his New Bond Street office. Prosecutors portrayed him as a well-practised manipulator, who promised to boost his victims’ careers and get them to meet celebrities in exchange for sexual favours.
Bizarrely, he bragged about having a tiny penis.
Victims included one girl who said Clifford abused her on a number of occasions after he met her family on holiday in Spain in 1977, when she was 15.
Asked whether he had anything to say to the victims, Clifford said: “There’s plenty I would like to say to them.”