Patricia Taylor, co-author of Oscar: An Accident Waiting to Happen, has been very vocal about the fact that her family has not received any money for interviews regarding the Oscar Pistorius murder case.

Her daughter, Samantha, dated Oscar for 18 months and Patricia, along with author Melinda Ferguson, has now penned a book on the family's relationship with Oscar.

As previously reported by The Juice, Patricia says she and Oscar had a close bond. In her book, she writes:

“One reason Oscar and I established such an immediate and intense bond, I believe, is because my mothering instincts are so strong and Oscar’s need for mothering is so huge. It was like a magnetic effect – both of us fulfilling a need in the other.”

THE BOOK LAUNCH

The book was launched last night at Exclusive Books in Rosebank. Patricia and Melinda were there. While Patricia has said that she has received a lot of support for the book, she admits that there has also been a lot of criticism. One of the biggest questions posed on social media was, 'Why would a mother let her young daughter (17) sleep at her boyfriends' house for days at a time if there were signs of trouble?' Also, just like when it was reported that the Steenkamps had accepted money for interviews, there has been a major backlash over news reports that the Taylor family has too.

CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS

In the book, Patricia details how her daughter used to spend her time studying at Oscar's house for her Matric exams. Last night, however, Patricia insisted that Samantha was out of school and in university when she first stayed at his house.

Patricia Taylor also firmly denied to The Juice that the family had received any money from interviews. "We have not taken a thing. We have been offered a lot, but we have never taken anything." This despite media reports that both Patricia and Samantha were on London last week for interviews and had been paid. This afternoon, Marcus Brewster, the PR company representing the Taylor family, confirmed that Patricia had felt 'cornered' and erred in her reply. "The Taylor family as a whole has received money for interviews. This is because of costs involved - like the intrusion of life," said publicist Dayne Stern. "However, they did not always go for the highest amount of money, but rather the publication they thought would best get their story out there."

This is what Patricia had to say today. "You will recall that last night you asked me if I we had been paid for an interviews conducted and I advised you that I had not. Since the tragic death of Reeva Steenkamp we have been inundated with offers of payment from a wide variety of media of sometime outrageous amounts to conduct interviews. I can confirm now that we have accepted payment to conduct interviews, but have been very selective to ensure it is the correct platform for our message."

MELINDA FERGUSON WEIGHS IN...

The paying of interviews, especially regarding the Oscar Pistorius story, has always been a conundrum in South Africa. Publisher and co-author Melinda Ferguson says 'why not'?

"I do know they had been offered huge amounts of money over the past year and a half and they stayed right away from these offers. I think the interest in the international media, whose pockets are very deep, has been enormous. Reeva’s parents were hugely criticized when they took a few million for their story. I always felt: 'why not?' If people want to throw stupid amounts of money to sell publications, that’s just the nature of this news frenzy culture we live in."

VIDEO: We interviewed Patricia at the book launch...