Flame-haired trailblazer was News Corp’s fiery favourite
Brooks, a flame-haired 43-year-old, became the focus of widespread anger over a phone-hacking scandal at the company she headed. She had a remarkable rise to power in the male-dominated world of tabloid journalism, becoming editor of the News of the World in 2000 and the Sun’s first female editor in 2003.
In 2009, she was promoted to chief executive of News International, reporting to Rupert Murdoch’s son James.
She became a favourite of Rupert’s, moving the Australian-born magnate to issue a rare statement of personal support as she came under increasing fire last week. She was, until last week at least, also a friend and neighbour of Prime Minister David Cameron.
“She’s sinuous and clever and probably the most brilliant networker I’ve ever met,” said veteran media commentator Roy Greenslade, a former News International journalist who has known Brooks for years.
Former employees describe her as “one of the lads” who fitted into the macho culture of the tabloids by swearing in the newsroom and drinking in the pub with colleagues — while making it very clear who was boss.
“At first, I wondered who this person flouncing around the office with big red hair like she owned the place was. I soon found out,” said one ex-Sun reporter.
Brooks, known as Rebekah Wade until her second marriage to ex-racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks two years ago, spent almost her entire career at News International.
After a grammar-school education in Cheshire and a short spell in Paris, she joined the News of the World at the age of 20 as a feature writer and rose to become deputy editor.
In 1998 she transferred to sister tabloid The Sun, a daily, spending two years as deputy editor there before returning as editor to NOTW, where she ran a controversial campaign to name and shame child sex offenders.
While she was editor an investigator working for the paper hacked into the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, later found murdered. Brooks says she did not know about the hacking.
One ex-employee from that time describes her as a hands-on editor who led from the front and mucked in with news editors as the weekly publication deadline approached.
Despite a sometimes tough demeanour that could intimidate hardened hacks, she was generally charming and wrapped the paper’s male editors around her little finger, current and former colleagues say.
“She buttered up a lot of middle-aged men, and she’s good at that. They probably each thought they were a special adviser and confidant. She was very good at keeping those old warhorses well and truly on her side,” said one ex-employee.
In 2003, Brooks returned to the Sun, succeeding her former boss David Yelland as editor of Britain’s best-selling newspaper, which currently has almost 3 million daily readers and at the time had many more.
During her tenure, the newspaper’s former hard news focus shifted towards more celebrity stories. The topless girls who appear daily on page 3 of the tabloid remained, despite reports she had earlier campaigned against them as deputy editor.
It was during this period that Brooks separated from her first husband Ross Kemp, best known for his role as hard man Grant Mitchell in the popular BBC soap EastEnders.
It was gleefully reported by rival newspapers that she had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband — while the Sun was running a campaign against domestic violence. She was later released and no further action was taken.
“She wouldn’t bring her personal life into the office,” says a former NOTW reporter.
“She wouldn’t come in and say: ‘Ross and I have had a terrible row,’ like some women might. She was more likely to come in and say: ‘Where the hell is that page you promised me?’”
