Julia Stiles has revealed she met up with women who worked as escorts to research her new TV show.

In Blue, Julia plays a working single mother who leads a secret double life as a high-class prostitute to make ends meet.

Julia revealed: “John Avnet, the producer, produced Risky Business [the 1983 coming of age film that launched Tom Cruise's career], so he had already had contacts.

“He put me in touch with women who worked as escorts and I was able to meet them for coffee in LA. Luckily, they were very forthcoming about their lives, and I asked them everything.”

The 33-year-old actress admitted she found it fascinating talking to them, and hearing “so many surprising stories”.

“One of the women I talked to showed up at a coffee shop – she was driven there by a man – and she said, ‘This is my fiance’. Then he went away to get a coffee and waited outside, and she said, ‘By the way, he doesn’t know that I do this’.

Julia Stiles in Blue (WIGS/Lifetime)
Julia Stiles in Blue (WIGS/Lifetime)

“The oldest woman I spoke to, who was actually my age, in her early 30s, had already started becoming a madam, because it’s like retirement age to be in your early 30s!”

Julia insisted despite being an actress with a private life and public profile, she didn’t relate to Blue’s double life.

But she added: “I do relate to her in the sense that I, as part of my job, am paid to kiss strangers. It’s really strange.”

:: Blue begins on Lifetime on Monday March 2.