Samantha Brick: I know I’m beautiful—Daddy told me so

The Cutline

Samantha Brick, the British writer who sparked a firestorm of criticism over a column titled "Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful," is back with more fodder for her critics.

In a new column published in the Daily Mail, Brick identifies the reason she says she knows she's beautiful: Her father told her she was.

"Ever since the day I came into this world, my dad, a retired nurse, has showered me with love and affection," she wrote. "His love has been the key to my being able to love myself."

Brick said she immediately turned to her father during the backlash:

In the middle of last week's media storm, he was the man I instinctively turned to. Yes, Pascal, my loving husband of four years, was behind me all the way, telling me that to him I was the most beautiful woman in the world. But Dad immediately knew—as he always has—what to say to make me feel better.

I called him from my home in France to ask what he thought. As ever, his support was instant and unwavering. First, he reassured me that those lambasting me were 'very sad people with very shallow lives.'

Then, unable to understand why I'd become the focus of so much bitterness, he asked: 'Why aren't people directing such anger towards the real problems going on in this country? You've done nothing wrong, you've struck a nerve and you've proved that your point is valid. Treat them with the contempt they deserve.'

Unashamedly, I am a daddy's girl, utterly confident in my father's love. For as long as I can remember, I got birthday cards from him addressed to 'my No 1 girl'. While he was probably referring to the fact I was his eldest daughter (he has five) I interpreted it as meaning I was No 1 in his life.

And it's an outlook I have taken with me into my adulthood. It's the reason why when I look in the mirror, I don't see a 40-something woman with crow's feet, squidgy cheeks sliding southwards and the beginnings of a crepey chest. I see a twinkly eyed temptress who grins confidently back at me—one who stands tall, proud and with masses of va-va-voom.

And there's this:

I had a lazy eye when I was younger and it was Dad who determinedly ensured I had it fixed so I wouldn't be picked on. I remember waking up from the operation at the age of eight and seeing him looking down at me telling me I was beautiful.

The column probably won't help Brick win over her fervent critics. (Even Ann Curry—Ann Curry!—called her a narcissist.) But it's not likely to cause as much furor as her previous dispatch, which according to the Daily Mail drew more than 3 million page views and led to what she called a "global witch-hunt."

"One minute I had written a piece about how being beautiful had always caused me difficulties with other women," Brick wrote. "The next I found myself pilloried and insulted online, on the radio and on TV shows around the world. How dare I call myself beautiful? Who did I think I was? Had I not looked in the mirror recently?"

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