She embarked on a literary career in 1976 with Al den løgn om kvinders svaghed (All those Lies about Women's Weakness) expanding on the work of a woman crane driver, based on her experiences in Oslo in 1974-75.
As a child, she was strongly influenced by her maternal grandmother, the author and politician Ingeborg Refslund Thomsen (1891–1972), spending much of her time at Brundlund Manor, her grandparents' home in Åbenrå.
After matriculating from highschool in Sønderborg, she spent half a year as an au pair in Cambridge, England, improving her command of English.
A demonstration in Copenhagen in 1970 ended with the women discarding their bras with a banner declaring Hold Danmark ren (Keep Denmark Clean).
On the basis of diary notes, she wrote Al den løgn on kvinders svaghed, published in Danish and Norwegian in 1976 and later in German, describing how a woman could take up a job traditionally reserved for men.