Women have been throwing themselves at him, apparently

Feb 21, 2015 09:43 GMT  ·  By

It’s not just Universal Pictures and author E.L. James that are banking on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” frenzy with the release of the first film in a planned trilogy, over Valentine’s Day weekend. Apparently, there’s a man in Seattle who claims he’s the real-life Christian Grey, the troubled, handsome and filthy rich male lead in the film and James’ books.

The only difference is that Brayden Olson isn’t a billionaire. Yet.

Young, famous, rich and single

Brayden Olson has spoken to Business Insider of the increased attention he’s been getting for some time, which has increased even more as the release date of the film was drawing near.

Apparently, he’s been contacted about hundreds of women who found out that he’s a realer Christian Grey than Jamie Dornan on film, in the sense that he has most of that character’s attributes, starting with the fact that he’s from Seattle.

He is also very rich, though not a billionaire yet, young (27), handsome and runs his own business empire, which involves real estate and educational gaming technology. He also does a lot of charity and puts his money where his mouth is whenever he can.

Before you even ask, yes, he also dated some of these women - but he wouldn’t say if he shares Grey’s most mediated characteristic, his love of BDSM and a troubled childhood.

Brayden cherishes the Grey comparisons

“So, I like to point out the professional and bibliographical similarities,” Brayden tells the publication. By now, he’s read the James’ 3 novels and seen the movie. “I do run a holding company. I live in Seattle. I was voted Seattle's ‘best man.’ I'm the youngest entrepreneur ever admitted to the entrepreneurs' organization in my region.”

However, he doesn’t own a helicopter just yet, and unlike Grey, who seems to be spending most of his time in the Red Room or talking with Anastasia on the phone or by email, he actually has to work for a living.

Brayden hopes he’ll be able to change his status to billionaire, like Grey, very soon.

He’s obviously not embarrassed by comparisons with this much-derided but still immensely popular fictional character: he actually took part in a “Fifty Shades”-themed photoshoot, channeling the man himself, Grey.

Turn the attention into a noble cause

One reason Brayden isn’t ashamed to exploit and even encourage comparisons to Christian Grey is that he wants to use it to draw attention to a cause close to his heart: domestic violence.

In a context in which all 3 of James’ books and the film have been accused of glorifying an abusive relationship and falsely painting it as BDSM, Olson is using his voice to ask people to work together to solve this problem. The first step would be to become more involved.

“The popularity of this work gives us an opportunity to discuss a different difficult topic - domestic violence. It exists in every community and affects a significant portion of our society. There can be some non-traditional ways for people to show their affection, but a real man would never hurt a woman,” he says.

Now that’s a Christian Grey women should daydream of.

Real-life Christian Grey Brayden Olson (4 Images)

Brayden Olson says he's the real-life Christian Grey
Seattle millionaire Brayden Olson could also make a convincing Clark Kent / SupermanFilm version of Christian Grey, as potrayed by Jamie Dornan
+1more