Secrets and lies!
The rise and fall of media manipulator Max Clifford
As a publicist to the stars for some 50 years, Max Clifford was the source behind countless lurid tabloid headlines. But he found himself on the wrong end of sensational press coverage when he was convicted of indecent assault and jailed in 2014.
The remarkable rise and fall of the PR man, who died in prison aged 74 in 2017, is told in this C4 documentary.
Surrey-born Clifford worked on a local newspaper before becoming a music publicist and setting up his own PR business, Max Clifford Associates.
His clients included Simon Cowell and Diana Ross and he was famously associated with comedian Freddie Starr, selling the ‘Freddie Starr ate my hamster’ story to The Sun newspaper in 1986.
In 1992, Clifford helped bring down Tory politician David Mellor when his client, actor Antonia de Sancha, sold lurid details of their affair to newspapers.
Downfall
But in 2012, Clifford became headline news himself when he was arrested for sexual offences against underage girls as part of Operation Yewtree. He was found guilty and jailed for eight years.
‘People think they can be immune because of the positions they’re in,’ said Director of Public Prosecutions Dame Alison Saunders after the sentencing. ‘There’s a very clear message – nobody is immune, nobody is above the law.’