News Corp Exec Rebekah Brooks Spied on by News Corp

Well, this is awkward.

It was unfortunate enough when evidence showed that British tabloid News of the World may have hacked some celebrities’ phone lines, but the News Corp phone tapping scandal has reached a whole new level of weird. Turns out the same private eye who is accused of snooping into Sienna Miller and Hugh Grant’s lives had also (allegedly) invaded Rebekah Brooks’ phone line. And who is Brooks? Oh yes, she’s the chief executive of News International, a News Corp-owned publication. Yeesh, News Corp spying on one of its own? Like we said: Awkward.

The phone tapping, which, according to the Independent, police say happened at least 20 times, took place between 2005 and 2006, when Brooks briefly became something of a tabloid target. Brooks had been arrested for an alleged assault on her then-husband in 2005 (but was later released and never formally charged). While it’s not clear whether that’s necessarily the reason she was a possible phone-tapping target, it’s the only rational explanation many news outlets have provided for the sudden, short alleged invasion of privacy.

Oh, but it gets even more awkward! Guess where Brooks used to work? Yep, she’s a former editor of News of the World. Might there have been reporters spying on their former boss? Possibly.

We’re guessing a handful of News of the World scribes just took her name of their resumes.

TAGS: rebekah brooks | rebekah brooks former job | rebekah brooks phone tapping | rebekah brooksnews international

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