Stephanie Birkitt’s diary won’t be the last one to spark a scandal — and it certainly wasn’t the first.
Samuel Pepys was a member of the British Parliament in the late 17th century. He kept a detailed dairy written in elaborate shorthand. It didn’t just shed light on the Great Plague of London, but it also included a juicy scene in which his wife caught him red-handed with one of her friends. When the diary was published in the 19th century, Pepys got immediate notoriety for his insatiable sexual appetite.
Anyone who reads “Alice in Wonderland” wonders what Lewis Carroll was thinking when he wrote it. Carroll kept detailed diaries of his personal life, but they are mired in controversy because the volumes from 1853 to 1863 have mysteriously disappeared. Some speculate they reveal his pedophiliac romance with “Alice” muse, Alice Liddell.
Mary Astor lived the glamorous Hollywood life. However, when her husband, Franklyn Thorpe, sued her over custody of their daughter, Astor’s diary, famously written in purple ink, quickly became key evidence in the case against her, revealing lurid affairs and deviant behavior.
In 1995, after 10 cases of sexual harassment were brought against Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood, the Senate’s Ethics Committee demanded access to his diary. Packwood was forced to resign after turning over 5,000 pages of personal notes that tracked his questionable relationships with female staffers.
Earlier this year, Britney Spears was in a tizzy after discovering that her diary, written during her stint in a mental hospital, was stolen from her Beverly Hills home. The diary supposedly contained details about her drug use and her tumultuous relationship with her mother. In the past, frenemy Sam Lutfi has claimed to have access to the diaries and threatened to sell them to the tabloids.