Brooke Magnanti was quoted by the Sunday Times of London as saying that she decided to reveal her secret because she was afraid an ex-boyfriend would expose her.

Face it, ladies, you can not trust ex-boyfriends. If they don't leak your pseudonyms, they'll leak your sex tapes.

Brooke, 34, is a child-health researcher at the University of Bristol, in western England. She told the newspaper that she turned to the sex trade in 2003 while finishing her Ph.D. and worked as an escort for more than a year.

She blogged about the experience in the guise of Belle de Jour, a legal secretary who moonlights as a sex worker.

The blog formed the basis of three books and the British TV series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl," which aired here on Showtime. In the show, Belle was shown to be the only prostitute to never take off her clothes.

Brooke said on her blog yesterday that she was relieved "to be able to defend what my experience of sex work is like to all the skeptics and doubters."

She also said that her scientific colleagues had been "amazingly kind and supportive" about the news - especially her male colleagues who now looked at her in a whole new red light.

The open-minded University of Bristol said that her past was not relevant to her current job.

Brooke's publisher, Orion, also stood by her, saying in a statement that it was "a courageous decision for Belle de Jour to come forward with her true identity and we support her decision to do so."

* In other news of titillation, Las Vegas has drawn the line when it comes to strippers.

The Deja Vu Showgirls club can no longer advertise its dancers on the back of a truck.

See, it's not like Deja Vu had some sexy picture and a logo painted on the truck - the club had actual exotic dancers shaking their moneymakers on the flatbed.

Now those are Hot Wheels.

Larry Beard, Deja Vu marketing director, said that he's taking his lawyer's advice and parking the vehicle.

"We're going to respect the opinion of the folks that are against it," Beard told the Associated Press. "We're going to be good citizens and take it off the street."

Beard had told the AP earlier last week that he was prepared to fight county leaders and others who thought that the promotion was unseemly or unsafe.

"The girls are wearing more than the girls at the swimming pool wear," Beard said. "Even though they're not stripping and taking their clothes off, I think people are offended because of the idea that they do."

The truck rolled for 13 nights along the aptly named Las Vegas Strip from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., trying to lure customers to the club. Three sides had windows that weren't tinted, offering views of the strippers dancing around a stripper pole.

The tactic worked, with business booming since the truck started going out, Beard said.

"We even have cars and limos follow us to the club," he said.

Kind of like the Pie Piper.

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak said that he got calls from citizens who hated the promotion and others who liked it, but he considered the truck a safety problem.

"It's clearly a distraction," Sisolak told the AP. "Somebody's going to turn their head to look at some girl flipping upside-down and spinning on a pole, and take their eyes off the road and could swerve and pop up the sidewalk and plow into a bunch of tourists that are walking along."

* Life & Style Weekly reports that the only prop Bristol Palin baby-daddy Levi Johnston uses in his Playgirl photo shoot is a hockey stick.

Yo, Life & Style, that's not a hockey stick. Levi just leans to the right.

* What is it about the weekend that brings out the smut?

Britain's News of the World reports that after wearing out a number of boyfriends, Michelle Thompson, who suffers from Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome and claims to have nearly 300 orgasms a day, has finally found love with Andrew Carr, a man who can satisfy her.

And satisfy her.

And satisfy her.

Etc.

Tattbit

* The road even catches up to Bruce Springsteen.

The Boss screamed "Hello, Ohio!" to fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills at a concert Friday night.

Unfortunately, Auburn Hills is in Michigan.

The 60-year-old rock legend referred to Ohio several times Friday night until E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt whispered in his ear.

An embarrassed Boss grinned and said that such a mistake was "every front man's nightmare."

But Springsteen regrouped, wowing fans with his touching theme song from the Oscar-winning movie, "Pittsburgh."

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com