Pearson began her career with the Financial Times, where she was a sub-editor, before moving to The Independent and then The Independent on Sunday in 1992. There she was assistant to Blake Morrison before becoming a TV critic, winning the award for Critic of the Year at the British Press Awards in 1993. Pearson was a columnist with London's Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph, then took over from Lynda Lee-Potter at the Daily Mail. Pearson ended her column for the Daily Mail in April 2010, when it was said that she was to join The Daily Telegraph. In September 2010, Pearson resumed her role as a columnist with The Daily Telegraph. As of 2015, Pearson was a columnist and chief interviewer of The Daily Telegraph. Pearson has presented Channel 4's J'Accuse and BBC Radio 4's The Copysnatchers, and participated as a panellist on Late Review, the predecessor of Newsnight Review.
Books
Pearson's first novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, is a "chick lit" examination of the pressures of modern motherhood. The book was a bestseller in the UK and the US, selling four million copies, and was made into a film. Pearson was sued by Miramax for non-delivery of a second novel, I Think I Love You, for which she received a US$700,000 advance in 2003. Delivery was due in 2005: it was published in 2010. The novel was about a teenager's passion for David Cassidy in the 1970s and the man writing the so-called replies from David Cassidy to the teenage fans, who meet up 20 years later after marriage, divorce, and children. Her newspaper, The Telegraph, praised the novel for its warmth and sincerity; The Guardian declared it an "unrealistic and sappy romance". A sequel to I Don't Know How She Does It was published in September 2017. The novel, How Hard Can It Be, continues the story of the protagonist Kate Reddy, now approaching 50 and struggling with bias against older women in the workplace. The book attracted considerable publicity but failed to become a bestseller.
Controversies
Pearson was listed in Spiked in 2007 as one of many journalists who had been duped by the anti-MMR campaign. This anti-MMR campaign has contributed to the significant rise in measles cases and complications including death that arise from the disease in the UK and elsewhere. In May 2007, when Madeleine McCann went missing, Pearson said "This kind of thing doesn't usually happen to people like us." In May 2008, Pearson upset Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, by suggesting her daughter Princess Beatrice was overweight. On the TV programme, This Morning, the Duchess criticised the absent columnist. Pearson denied claims that she had failed to respond to multiple phone calls from the Duchess. Pearson was criticised for a tweet sent less than an hour after the first of the 22 March 2016 Belgian bombings. In the tweet, she linked the bombings with the pro-Leave side of Brexit — the side that she herself supported on the matter. Following the May 2017 Manchester Arena bombing at the end of a concert, Pearson called for the introduction of internment. In September 2019, Pearson falsely accused a man with a seriously ill child of wearing a microphone when confronting prime minister Boris Johnson, due to the man's allegiance for the Labour Party. Despite being presented with evidence that this was untrue, Pearson did not issue an apology and defended her accusation. In September 2019 Pearson suggested that Angela Rayner was unsuitable to be Shadow Education Secretary because Rayner didn't get a GCSE grade above D upon leaving school in 1996. In December 2019, Pearson falsely claimed that a photo of a child lying on the floor of a hospital was staged and that she had been given “detailed explanation” that the photo was staged. She also said that the photo was “100% faked”.. The trust that runs Leeds General Infirmary issued a statement which apologised to the family that only chairs were available in the treatment room the boy was in and no beds. The hospital’s chief medical officer also apologised. In the same month, after the 2019 United Kingdom general election result, Pearson wrote on Twitter in relation to antisemitism in the United Kingdom, 'So now all the Jews are staying who do we nominate to leave?' In January 2020 Pearson described Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey as an Alien.
Personal life
Pearson was married to fellow journalist Simon Pearson, in May 1988 in Lincoln. She subsequently lived with Anthony Lane, film critic for The New Yorker. Allison Pearson was declared bankrupt following a personal insolvency order made by the High Court of Justice in London on 9 November 2015. The bankruptcy petitioner was the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs.
