I'm a celebrity... and I haven't been hacked! I'm furious!
Stars love publicity, so why complain, asks Michael Winner
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Your support makes all the difference."I'd feel very flattered if someone hacked my phone. More than that, I'd be delighted – nobody listens to me ordinarily so it would make a nice change. I can't say I'm at all concerned about it – in fact I keep encouraging people to do it but, as of yet, to no avail.
I've been on Desert Island Discs and been offered an OBE (which I turned down), but being on the hacking list has become the new status symbol. Of course, hacking the phones of soldier's families and the families of murder victims is absolutely disgraceful and a very different matter.
But when it comes to celebrities, these are people who always seek publicity – then they moan and groan when they get it. It's not right, but it's nothing to get ballistic about. I mean, honestly, the way people were carrying on you'd thing the world was going to fall in on itself because someone got to listen to Sienna Miller's voicemail. Celebrities eavesdrop on one another at dinners and parties all the time, and there's only a fine line between that and listening to voicemails.
Tabloid intrusion really doesn't bother me. I've been turned over by the NOTW on two occasions. On one occasion I got compensation, but the other was totally true – and the girl said so as well, so there was nothing to worry about.
There are so many people on the list that I suppose it might still turn out that I'm on it. I won't be hanging on the phone but nor will my heart sink if I get the call. There's no juicy secrets in my inbox that I'm worried about. Nothing like what I quite openly told the Inland Revenue about the money I had stashed in Switzerland – and that led to three years of investigation and a big bill. But it was all good fun.
Some celebrities think it's the end of their careers when these sort of headlines go on the front page, but nobody really cares.
If I had been hacked and if I were to get compensation, I'd make sure it went to the Police Memorial Charity that I support. The one thing that really concerns me about this whole affair is how the police are coming out of it. They're coming out of it badly, which is a shame, because the wrongdoing of a few is tarnishing the reputations of them all."
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