Toxic

‘Illuminating.’ New Statesman

‘Ditum’s prose is never overwrought, and she treats pop culture with a rare seriousness. She is right to do so. The women who came of age in the noughties are entering middle age, with all the agency that brings… Ditum’s reframing of an era, suggests that the uproar over (Russell) Brand may have been just the beginning of a reckoning.’ Financial Times

‘Ditum gets the tone right: critically engaged, well-researched, colourful without seeming exploitative… a serious book of reportage…. For readers interested in real celebrity journalism.’ Irish Times

‘Furious and funny.’ Guardian – BOOKS OF THE YEAR

‘(A) pageturning exploration of a time when new technology and old misogyny collided and the concept of privacy collapsed.’ Daily Mirror


Britney, Paris, Lindsay, Aaliyah, Janet, Amy, Kim, Chyna, Jen. Nine iconic women whose fame in the early internet years of the century came at a price. In Toxic: Women, Fame and The Noughties, journalist Sarah Ditum describes how each of the women changed ‘celebrity’ forever, despite often falling victim to it, during what we now view as one of the most hostile eras in which to be female.

Through Paris’ ambivalent relationship with her blogger namesake Perez Hilton; to Britney’s paternalistic governors; Jen’s attempts to control her career and image; and Janet’s betrayal at the Superbowl, these celebrities of The Noughties were presented with the riches of early social media and market opportunity, as long as they abided by the new rules of engagement. Some of these high-profile women were hypersexualised and ‘upskirted’ by the press; some were shamed by their advertising sponsors; others were contracted by shady management companies and industry figures such as Harvey Weinstein and R Kelly. Together they illuminate the culture of the early twenty-first century. Toxic: Women, Fame and The Noughties is a wild ride through the millennial years.