Author Roxane Gay hits back at website for its 'cruel and humiliating' article

As authors do when they're about to release a book, Roxane Gay has been out doing press around the world in anticipation of her newest memoir, Hunger, which follows 2014's Bad Feminist.

What she didn't anticipate is Australian women's website Mamamia publishing what appeared to be her private requests, breaching confidentiality.

These "dozens of exchanges" were used to help paint the scene in the No Filter podcast, which Gay appeared on with the site's founder, Mia Freedman.

How Mamamia would "accommodate" Gay for her interview is discussed in the episode's prologue and the article about the podcast, which has since been deleted. And guess what, it's pretty awful.

"Hunger is a memoir about Roxane Gay’s body. And I would never normally breach the confidence of what goes on behind the scenes while organising an interview but in this case, it’s a fundamental part of her story and what her book is about," Freedman wrote.

"You see, Roxane Gay is……I’m searching for the right word to use here. I don’t want to say fat so I’m going to use the official medical term: super morbidly obese."

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The words to describe Gay get no less subtle.

"Her size is imposing and also a logistical nightmare for her. The requirements back and forth with her publishers who had brought her out to Australia to promote her books were extremely detailed," she added.

"How many steps were there from the curb to the door of the building? Were there any stairs? How many? How big was the lift and was there a goods lift? How many steps from the lift to the podcast studio? There was also a lot of talk about chairs -- making sure we had one sturdy enough to both hold her weight and make sure she was comfortable."

Gay was "appalled" what was written about her, as she tweeted on Monday.

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And other people joined in on the backlash on Twitter.

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Mamamia and Freedman declined requests for comment, but in a statement on its website, it apologised and said it didn't intend to disrespect Gay.

"As a publisher that’s championed body diversity and representation in the media we’re deeply apologetic that in this instance we’ve missed the mark in contributing to this discussion. We believe the conversations sparked by Roxane's book are vitally important for women to have, and are disappointed our execution hasn't contributed in the way we intended," the statement reads.

UPDATE: June 13, 2017, 6:35 p.m. AEST Added statement from Mamamia.