It’s the surf brand every Australian high schooler wore with pride: Roxy. We’ve been familiar with the label since childhood, but what we’re willing to bet you didn’t know is the salacious history of its founder, American model Jill Dodd.
Dodd traded her middle class Californian upbringing – her father was a fireman and mother a secretary, she tells the New York Post – for a life of superyachts, couture, drugs… and sleeping with notorious Saudi Arabian billionaire arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi, who funded her high-flying exploits.
Khashoggi was 44 years old when they met; Dodd was just 21; a model having the time of her life in ‘80s-era Cannes, at a party on a superyacht that she later learnt cost Khashoggi $25,000 to host.
After several meetings and a week spent horse riding on his Spanish estate, Dodd agreed to join Khashoggi’s harem.
“I was awoken in the middle of the night by Adnan, who then drew me a bath and sat on a stool next to the tub,” Dodd writes for the New York Post. “We had another deep conversation and, after snorting cocaine, he questioned how and when I’d lost my virginity.”
“After I agreed to be his ‘pleasure wife’, we had sex,” she goes on. “Even though he was 24 years older than me, he was an extraordinary lover.”
Dodd was spoilt with extravagant jewellery, couture dresses to wear on every date and glamourous parties, but eventually, the shine wore off. She knew Khashoggi was sleeping with other women, was increasingly “worried about AIDS” and realised the balance of power in the relationship was off.
She left the harem in 1982, but kept in touch with Khashoggi over the phone for years.
Fast forward to 1989, and Dodd had founded Roxy. She’s now married to her third husband, Jeff, has a son and two daughters, and lives in her hometown of California.
Her tell-all memoir, The Currency Of Love: A Courageous Journey To Finding The Love Within, is published on June 6.
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