'I never thought of myself as a hooker': Roxy founder's life in a harem

She was a beautiful young model living a rarefied Parisian dream. Adored. Desired. Pursued. And over it.

Australian Jill Dodd may have been surrounded by socialites, stars, A-listers and given endless invitations to high-end parties and travel, but she was also racing the reality of being preyed on as a young model.

She was just 20, battling an eating disorder and the mental turmoil of an assault. And then, in 1980 at a party in Monaco, came a knight in shining armour.

Dodd with Kashoggi. Photo / Supplied

Not just any knight. A knight almost a quarter of a century older than her, who also happened to be the world's richest man.

Adnan Kashoggi was a Saudi businessman, a known arms dealer and a womaniser with a taste for the high life.

Dodd didn't stand a chance.

At a dinner party on his yacht the following night, clad in the Lanvin dress she'd chosen from a room of couture gowns he'd provided Dodd, who went on to found the Roxy surfwear company, revealed earlier this year.

"I realised I'd never met such an intelligent, worldly and amusing man as Adnan, a 44-year-old father of five," she said.

"Yes, he had incredible wealth, but he also had a peaceful kind of strength. Slowly, I was falling for his charms."

His international pursuit of her - romantic dates in cities across the world - was intoxicating.

By the time they leaned in for their first kiss, she was in love.

So when he asked her to become one of his 11 "pleasure wives" - allowed under Saudi Arabian law - she sealed it, with a kiss.

"In that moment, I become a member of Adnan's harem, taking turns with other women to have sex with the man I love," Dodd wrote in her memoir, The Currency of Love: A Courageous Journey to Finding the Love Within.

She was smitten, she tells 60 Minutes' Peter Stefanovic as she shares her life in a harem in an interview to air on Channel 9 on Sunday night.

He was "intelligent, worldly, amusing" ... Dodd quickly fell under Adnan's spell. Photo / Channel 9

"He said 'I want to take care of you. I want to make a five-year contract with you'," Dodd explained.

She laughed as she revealed Kashoggi was "a great lover".

"He had this whole compound with several suites ... several different cottages around it," Dodd said.

"I had my own cottage and Adnan's cottage or Adnan's house or portion of the compound was private. So when I saw him, I would be alone with him in his place or he would come see me in my cottage."

Sharing her man with a bunch of other wives, she says "didn't hit me until later".

Lifting the lid on a life of excess, Dodd revealed her belief Kashoggi was paying modelling agencies huge sums to get access to gorgeous young women to enjoy his largesse at his parties, and have sex with him or his friends.

"I didn't think of myself as one of those women but I evidently was, she said.

"I mean, I was. I never thought of myself as a hooker though. I still don't think that."

In her book, Dodd revealed that while she was encouraged to have other boyfriends, she remained faithful to Kashoggi while they were together.

"As the months went by, I just wanted to be with Adnan and didn't care about the details. He was my boyfriend. Even though there were other women around, I didn't know who was a fellow pleasure wife, a casual lover or a flirtatious friend. There was no real relationship between us females," she writes in her book.

Dodd wrote her memoir, The Currency of Love: A Courageous Journey to Finding the Love Within.

But at 22, two years into their relationship, she could no longer be one of a number of wives. She wanted monogamy from Kashoggi.

When she couldn't have it, they split.

"It was an amicable split and we kept in touch by telephone for years," Dodd revealed in her book.

"In 1989, I founded the surfing and snowboarding inspired clothing line Roxy and became a successful business owner.

"I continued to have an affection for Adnan. I missed him and thought about him all the time.

"The last occasion we spoke was over the phone in 1988 when I was a single mother after my first divorce. He offered to send a plane to pick me up in California and fly me to the King of Morocco's Palace in Monaco, where he was staying. I didn't go because I had a jealous boyfriend. That's my biggest regret. I should have gone, even just to say: 'Thank you for my education.'"

Dodd, now mum of a 32-year-old son and two daughters, aged 22 and 17, lives in the US with her third husband, Jeff. They've been together 18 years.

It was 30 years before she lifted the lid on her harem past with her book.

It's believed Kashoggi, by then in his 80s and living in Monaco, knew she was writing it, and had no problem with the content.

He died at the age of 81, on June 6, 2017 - the same day Dodd's book was published.