Michael Wolff blasted by Judith Regan

A terrific row has erupted between Michael Wolff, the Vanity Fair writer and author of the recent Rupert Murdoch biography The Man Who Owns the News, and New York’s one-time doyenne of celebrity autobiography publishing, Judith Regan – until she was famously sacked by the Murdoch-owned HarperCollins two Christmases ago.

In the course of writing his Murdoch book, Wolff tried to interview Regan - a fiery type who now works as a radio presenter - but was rebuffed. In retaliation, he included a portrayal of her which included the phrases "nut", "unemployable anywhere else," and "reviled figure". To add insult to injury, Wolff, who first met Regan when they were students at the American college Vassar in the 1970s, soon after the famous women’s university went co-ed, also claimed that they once came close to having an affair.

Enraged by this, Regan says she now intends bringing a legal action for defamation against the author: "Michael Wolff has been obsessed with me and my sex life for close to 30 years. I'm finally going to give him what he wants - he's going to get fucked by Judith Regan.”

Regan was fired by HarperCollins in December 2006 after allegedly making anti-semitic remarks – though she later won a legal action against the publishers. Her dismissal came within weeks of HarperCollins, on Murdoch’s orders, pulled the publication of a Regan commission – the highly controversial O.J Simpson memoir, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, which put forth a hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Meanwhile the latest the Regan-Wolff continues, with Wolff’s revelation on Tuesday to the New York Daily News that it was he who persuaded Regan to enter publishing. To this claim, Regan responded: "Once again Wolff is wrong. I have had no contact with him for decades. Now he's taking credit for getting me into the book business?" ·