She is the former queen of the redtops and, during her reign at the Sun and the News of the World, titillated millions of Britons with celebrity gossip for nearly a decade.
But during five hours of questioning at the Leveson inquiry on Friday, former editor Rebekah Brooks attempted to debunk a string of what she called "gossipy items" on her alleged swimming habits, wardrobe – and the retired police horse she borrowed.
• Brooks accepted that she is close to Rupert Murdoch, her 81-year-old former boss. She denied that she often went swimming with the media mogul when he was in London.
Brooks did not elaborate beyond her flat denial. But according to Murdoch's biographer, Michael Wolff, Jay had fumbled the question – Wolff says that she told him she did go swimming with Murdoch, off his boat. It just wasn't in London.
• Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, asked about a birthday party hosted by PR supremo Matthew Freud in November 2005. "Did you keep Rupert waiting for breakfast the following morning, Mrs Brooks?" "No."
He even dared to ask the rather bemused former News International chief executive whether Murdoch sent a new dress to a south London police station after she was arrested in the same month following an alleged assault on her then husband, the ex-EastEnders actor Ross Kemp. "That's fiction," said Brooks, adding wryly: "You need better sources, Mr Jay."
• Inquiry watchers were also disappointed when Brooks flatly denied the suggestion that she was given the retired police horse Raisa as a quid pro quo for a work experience placement for the son of Dick Fedorcio, the Metropolitan police's former head of public affairs.
• Brooks did allow one morsel of gossip to sneak out: Rupert Murdoch is a fan of Simon Cowell. Murdoch always thought that the Sun ran too much celebrity gossip, "although he liked The X Factor."
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