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Mr. <em>50 Shades of Grey</em> Opens Up About Un-Kinky Marriage To E.L. James
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 2, 2012
Modified Sep 2, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 2, 2012
Modified Sep 2, 2012
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Throughout this whole 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon, mommys across the world have fantasized about the kind of kinky, arousing home life which could have inspired writer E.L. James to pen such riveting, rapturous prose. Finally, the man behind Christian Grey, James' husband Niall Leonard, has deigned to pull back the curtains and give the world a glimpse into their bedroom: "I'm the least romantic fecker that ever lived - ask my wife Erika, aka E.L. James. Our first Christmas together I bought her a tin opener, and my earliest experience of kinky sex was her trying to shove it up my arse."
Oh right: Leonard writes in The Guardian UK that James wasn't as inspired by her hot and heavy home life as she was inspired by reading the Twilight saga and essentially thinking, "this bar is pretty low, let's see if I can do one better." Which isn't really a surprise to anyone that has actually read the damn books.
Erika had been working in TV as a head of production, and she was great at her job, but never really happy. Then, late in 2008, she saw the first Twilight movie, devoured all the books in one sitting, and suddenly knew what she really wanted to do - write her own romantic fiction.
Leonard was quite happy with this development, as it gave him a chance to catch up on all The Wire and The Sopranos DVDs he had been piling up. Other interesting facts gleaned from his piece: James first submitted the stories that would turn into 50 Shades at the fanfiction.net forum under the user name "Snowqueens Icedragon." Leonard was her first editor: "She'd write a new chapter every week or so, and I would proof-read it, checking her spelling, adding and subtracting commas, cutting back on those bloody ellipses… and occasionally suggesting a tweak if I thought the meaning was unclear."
He described the moment when they realized the book had taken off:
At first there were rumours on Twitter that American mums were exchanging copies at school gates and soccer pitches. That sounded sweet, and kind of naughty, but nothing to get excited about. Then, on New Year's Eve 2011, two separate messages arrived from Hollywood producers asking about the movie rights, and a review appeared on Amazon by a reader who mentioned that every woman in her New York hairdressing salon was either reading the book or talking about it. We looked at each other and thought, "Oh shit…"
And there's the one annoying part of being the husband of a famous erotic writer: journalists and their nagging, moronic questions.
Journalists ask if fans turn up on our doorstep asking silly questions. No, but journalists do. Do we have a dungeon? Or a Red Room of Pain? Maybe, and maybe there's a helicopter pad on the roof in case Christian Grey drops in for a spanking. Fifty Shades Of Grey is a fantasy - have they forgotten what that means? Do they chase JK Rowling down the street daring her to use her Avra Kedavra spell? Do they ask Hilary Mantel how many courtiers she's beheaded?
Tagged
50 shades
50 shades of grey
christian grey
e.l. james
kink
niall leonard
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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