Literary lothario Salman Rushdie put a love fatwa on sexy socialite Devorah Rose via text after she tweeted about an intimate dinner they shared. But Rose says it won’t deter her from speaking out about what she says is bullying and manipulation.
“If you continue to place material in the public domain, I will have to consider all my options,” the “Satanic Verses” author ominously texted Rose, she says, following a Page Six report they were seen “spending quality time” together. She says he followed up with another missive: “Cease and desist instantly.”
“He was my idol,” Rose says. “But it doesn’t matter who you are. You shouldn’t use your position to bully someone. I want to take a stand because men use games to manipulate and control women, and it’s not OK.”
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Rushdie says Rose mistook a “casual acquaintance” for more. But she tells us Rushdie chased her for months, with dinner invitations and Facebook messages, while she was “pursuing an intellectual relationship.” She says he broke things off abruptly on Facebook: “I don’t feel able to pursue what we only just began.”
“I felt like he was punishing me for not doing what he wanted. It was so shocking and confusing,” Rose says. She adds she was “so happy” and “relieved” to learn Rushdie just wanted to be pals.
But, she says, it wasn’t long before he was sending her messages saying, “you look so gorgeous and hottt.” “We went out to so many dinners after [he said he wanted to be friends],” Rose says. “I thought, ‘This is great.’ Then he starts telling me how sexy I am.”
Rushdie said after Rose tweeted about their dinner, “There is not, and will not be anything between Ms. Rose and myself. I am mortified that her Twitter feed suggests otherwise.”
“He’s much older than me,” Rose told us. “It was so disheartening. I looked up to him. [I thought he was] charming and intelligent . . . I don’t want this to happen to other girls.”
Rushdie said, “No further comment.”