Chrissie Hynde's Disastrous Book Tour

Posted on October 7, 2015

Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of The Pretenders, has been surrounded by controversy since her new memoir came out. In the book, Reckless: My Life as a Pretender, she describes a horrifying incident in which she was sexually assaulted by several bikers when she was 21 years old.

Her comments in the book and in interviews seem to say that women are to blame for any sexual assault they suffer. This has infuriated rape victims. Now she doesn't want to discuss the issue. NPR's David Greene brought up the subject and she really let him have it. During the interview Greene asked her about that night. Chrissie became quite angry with him and refused to tell any of the stories that she'd already written about in the book. Greene, always polite, asked if he could read a few lines from the book. She agreed and he read about the night when she went out with some bikers in London who took her back to their flat, hit her on the head and sexually assaulted her.

She is clearly furious that she is being asked about the incident and says it's her own fault for going with the men. She says the passage was to show how stupid she was and to show how bad things happen when you do a lot of drugs. She told Greene, "You know, I was having fun, because I was so stoned. I didn't even care. That's what I was talking about, I was talking about the drugs more than anything, and how f***** up we were. And how it impaired our judgment to the point where it just had gotten off the scale."

She told The Times of London, "If I'm walking around in my underwear and I'm drunk, who else's fault can it be?" When asked about that quote, Chrissie pretty much lost it with Greene, saying, "You know what, I don't care what a lot of people want. You know? I'd rather say, just don't buy the f****** book, then, if I've offended someone. Don't listen to my records. Cause I'm only telling you my story, I'm not here trying to advise anyone or tell anyone what to do or tell anyone what to think, and I'm not here as a spokesperson for anyone. I'm just telling my story. So the fact that I've been -- you know, it's almost like a lynch mob." This has to be the first time in history anyone has accused the mild mannered David Greene of acting like a lynch mob.

That was the end of the interview, which was pretty much a total disaster. We're sure her publicist was hyperventilating at this point. The whole point of a book tour is to sell books. Telling fans not to buy the book -- while dropping the f bomb -- is not really what her publisher was hoping for. Then again, maybe her fans will see it as true, 70s rock star behavior. In any event, if she didn't want to discuss the incident she shouldn't have a) written about it, and b) made comments that were sure to upset rape victims by blaming them for being assaulted.