'Secret Life': New book details downfall of Jian Ghomeshi

CTV News Channel: 'You can't unwrite history' Toronto Star's Kevin Donovan reflects on his new book on Jian Ghomeshi, including stories from 17 women and two men.

In a new book, investigative reporter Kevin Donovan takes readers inside his months-long investigation into one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the Canadian media industry.

"Secret Life: The Jian Ghomeshi Investigation," provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Toronto Star investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the then-host of CBC radio program 'Q' and his spectacular fall from grace.

In an October 2014 Facebook post, Ghomeshi revealed that he engaged in consensual "rough sex."

But there was much more to the story. At the time, the public did not know that Donovan and journalist Jesse Brown, who hosts the podcast Canadaland, were quietly pursuing a story on serious allegations of sexual violence by the popular broadcasting personality.

Brown and Donovan's reports revealed allegations against Ghomeshi from several women claiming they were assault victims too.

Last March, Ghomeshi was found not guilty after a criminal trial involving allegations of sexual assault from three women.

In his book, Donovan's explores the story from the beginning: The allegations against Ghomeshi, the subsequent media frenzy, the impact on Ghomeshi's personal and professional life, and the criminal trial.

Donovan writes about what was happening behind the scenes at Ghomeshi's workplace as the scandal emerged. After CBC executives had seen images of a woman with visible bruises that may have come from being intimate with Ghomeshi, Donovan writes, the 'Q' host was summoned to the CBC's offices in downtown Toronto.

Donovan writes in his book, "As one CBC staffer involved in the situation explained, 'We cannot have someone who is violent to women on staff.' Ghomeshi told those at the meeting that they were wrong and that a 'spurned lover' had targeted him. The CBC executives repeated that the conduct they were now aware of from the video showing was not something the national broadcaster could tolerate. He was told to leave the CBC building; a replacement would be found for tomorrow's show."

In an interview on CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday, Donovan said his book also examines the national conversation about sexual harassment that emerged in the wake of the Ghomeshi scandal.

"I think there is tremendous public interest in this story, the issue of sexual assault is something that certainly dogs us as a society, and we wanted to certainly expose allegations of wrongdoing, and we also want to start what I think is a conversation that continues to this day," Donovan said.

Donovan said he reached out to Ghomeshi "quite frequently" during the course of his reporting, and as he wrote the book, but received few responses from Ghomeshi's camp.

"Beyond my one-time run-in with him at a dinner and letters from his lawyers, he remained silent on the full issues that are presented in the book," Donovan told CTV News Channel in an interview Tuesday.

Ghomeshi has kept a low-profile in Toronto since his acquittal. Donovan believes, if Ghomeshi were to pursue a career in radio again, he would likely do so outside of Canada.

CTV's Your Morning reached out to Ghomeshi's lawyers for his reaction to the book, but received no response.