Entertainment Features

The Last Living Slut is the blistering life-to-date tale of Roxana Shirazi. It tells the story of her upbringing in Iran during the time of the Islamic Revolution and how members of her politically active family were jailed and tortured in Tehran prisons. The book details how she fled the country only to find herself living in Manchester’s notorious Moss Side estate where she was ruthlessly bullied for her race.

The youngster found solace in rock music, which developed into a sexually charged romp through the scene with some of the biggest names in the business. JOE caught up with the author for an exclusive interview.

By Robert Carry

JOE: So how is the book’s publicity drive going?

Roxana: It was crazy in America. It was really, really busy there. We’ve come back to England to find that the British take on things is a bit different. We’ve had to change the cover of the book and they’ve been scared to advertise it because they’re afraid of a backlash from the Muslim community here. They are a bit more censored here compared to the US where it was really well received.

JOE: Did you have to edit any of the book’s content for the British audience?

Roxana: When I had finished the book and sent it to the publisher, I was told we had to change a few things. The British press is very scared of Muslims and the Muslim community. I feel it’s a bit of a shame that I’ve had to censor myself as a writer just because they’re scared of Muslims. I escaped from Iran because of that, and to come here and be confronted with it again is a bit sad.

The next thing I remember was waking up with an ambulance crew around me

JOE: So what was your upbringing in Iran like?

Roxana: Before the revolution it was a beautiful country to live in. I had a fairytale-like childhood because of the surroundings, the culture, the rich history. You would go out into an alley and there would be fruit trees. It was beautiful.

On the other hand, my family was really politically active. Every day there would be gunfire and members of my family were imprisoned. I used to go and visit them and my family would take me along to demonstrations when I was a child. But even with all that I felt loved. I was in a warm family.

There was also abuse in my childhood. I was being taught the Koran by a guy who was also abusing me. Religion and sexual abuse going hand-in-hand – it was similar to the situation with Catholic priests in Ireland I suppose. It was really weird being in that environment, it was a very chaotic and not very normal childhood. It wasn’t very relaxed or conventional upbringing.

JOE: How conservative was it?

Roxanna: My family wasn’t conservative. However, we had to behave in a certain way because if we didn’t we would get in trouble. When the Islamic Revolution happened I was six. I remember being in fear because I was stopped by the morality police as a seven-year old because I was showing a bit of hair under the Islamic headscarf. There were women getting their faces slashed with razors because they were wearing lipstick. Everything was banned – music, dancing, even wearing a tie was considered western and anti-Islamic.

At home was different – my own mum and grandmother were not conservative, they were just trying to protect me from any harm. It was a weird existence.

JOE: Was your move to England something you wanted at the time?

Roxana: I was still a child at that stage so I really didn’t want to leave my family and my friends. I didn’t want to be alone. I had this romanticised view of England, I thought it would be like a Mary Poppins kind of place. When I got there it was rainy and grey, and there was a lot of racism. I didn’t understand what racism was, I didn’t speak English.

I went to England with my grandmother. When she died I was alone. I went from one war zone to another – I was sent to Moss side in Manchester which is really rough. Every day I had to fend for myself. The uncle and aunt I went to live with had just escaped from Iran on horseback via Turkey. They had no money so I was always hungry.

When I was seven I went to live with an English family but the school I went to was really racist. I was called names every day and dog shit was put in my desk. It was a real shock, experiencing the coldness of English culture compared to Iranian culture. One day I was in a family with my mum, dad and my friends, and the next I was somewhere where I was being beaten for being a different colour. I had to grow up pretty quickly.

JOE: When you moved in with the British family was that the end of your ties with Islam?

Roxana: The thing is, I was never actually a Muslim myself. It was practiced at school so it was just something that was forced upon me. My family wasn’t Muslim, we were actually Ausarian.

JOE: How did you get involved with the whole rock scene?

Roxana: Kind of by accident. I met Stuart Cable, the drummer from the Stereophonics one night coincidentally. I hung out with him and had a great night with him and my girlfriend. It turned out to be a really crazy, wild night.  I wanted to go in search of adventure, to escape my life. I was coming from a very unhappy house – my step-father was beating me. Rockstars had that wild and free-spirited vibe about them – it was escapism.

I’d read Motley Crew’s The Dirt and I thought, well, I’m quite like that on the inside. I was a very, very wild girl on the inside instead of the nerdy academic girl I was seen as. I wanted to bring that side out of me.

After meeting Stuart I started going to gigs and getting back stage. I would be Bolshy and feisty and just make sure I was always back stage with every rockstar. I ended up being invited to go on tour, and it went on from there.

JOE: The book starts off with an account of how you collapsed in a hotel in Cardiff. How did that come about?

Roxana: I had been doing cocaine – it didn’t agree with me. I had been doing it for a few years, but only once in a while. It had been a very crazy few months. I was in Belfast partying, and it was crazy every night. I’d also been in Dublin with friends and we partied with a metal band. It was like continuously for three months until that night I was out with the Towers of London. My body just kind of stopped.