A celebrity stylist who says she was the real-life inspiration for Emily Blunt’s cutthroat fashionista character in “The Devil Wears Prada” is speaking out for the first time as the film’s sequel rolls into theaters.
On Tuesday’s episode of Vogue’s “Run-Through” podcast, Leslie Fremar confirmed she personally hired Lauren Weisberger as a junior assistant to Vogue’s then editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. At the time, Fremar was fresh off a promotion to Wintour’s first assistant, and she and Weisberger would work closely with one another for about eight months.
After leaving Vogue, Weisberger published her first book, “The Devil Wears Prada,” which many interpreted as a fictionalized account of her experience at the fashion magazine. The chilly character of Miranda Priestly, in particular, was seen as a thinly veiled depiction of Wintour.
“I definitely told her, ‘A million girls would kill for the job.’ That was definitely my line because I actually really believed that, and I knew that she didn’t necessarily want to be there,” Fremar recalled, alluding to one of Blunt’s now-iconic lines from the 2006 film.
Fremar also confirmed that many of the details from Weisberger’s novel ― and the film adaptation, which starred Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep ― were accurate in their specifics about the working atmosphere at Vogue at the time. Still, she said she viewed the book as a “betrayal,” particularly after reading an early copy that included harsh details she believes were “softened” by editors before publication.
