Outlander author Diana Gabaldon disputes Starz exec's claim the show is mainly popular with women because of shirtless Sam Heughan

TVLine

Gabaldon responded on Twitter to Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch comments to The Hollywood Reporter at the TV press tour last week, in which he said: "Outlander — you can say that it’s great because women like it because she’s a surgeon who goes back in time, but there’s also another side of that, which is there’s some eye candy for that audience and people like when (Heughan) has his shirt off. You have to be really thoughtful about when you’re looking at a piece of content and whether it’s really going to be female or not. And it’s not easy." Gabaldon tweeted a statement in response, saying: "Well, I dunno, Jeffrey… At the moment, I’ve got 30+ million books in print, in 42 countries; I get a lot of mail. I can’t say I see a lot of people talking about Jamie with his shirt off, unless it’s mentioning the shock and poignancy of his scars. I do see a lot of people (male, female, straight, gay, you name it) who love the books and love the show—and what they like about the show is how much it reflects what’s in the books. (Might be worth noting that when a woman is watching OUTLANDER, her husband or boyfriend is usually watching it with her…)"