PRINCESS DIANA GOES SEX MAD – and other National Enquirer exclusives

If would be a brave publisher to declare “Diana was a sex maniac!” as we mark 20 years since Princess Diana died. Or how about “Diana- Get Over it Already”, But one organ did make a misstep in the run-up to that fatal car crash in a Paris tunnel. On an issue marked September 9 1997, the National Enquirer carried the headline: “Di Goes Sex Mad.”

As news of Diana’s death echoed around the planet, in the US Kmart Corp, Safeway and Giant Food removed the National Enquirer from their shelves.

“We felt it inappropriate in light of the tragedy,” said Safeway’s director of public affairs, Gregory TenEyck. “The nation and the world are mourning her, and we felt shoppers should not be assaulted by this headline.”

“It’s not a negative story; it’s upbeat, showing how deliriously happy she is for the first time in years,” said David Perel, executive editor of the Enquirer. “Sure, it’s a sexual story, and ‘I can’t get enough’ is a descriptive phrase,” he said. “But this woman was just starting to enjoy life, and this is an element of it.”

But then he reconsidered. The Enquirer issued the following apology:

“We apologise for the Princess Diana page on headline DI GOES SEX MAD, which is still on the stands in some locations, It is currently being replaced with a 72-page tribute issue: A FAREWELL TO THE PRINCESS WE LOVED.”

Feel the love (in magazine sales):