'The Devil Wears Prada' real-life Emily reveals identity, says book felt like a 'betrayal'
A stylist who inspired Emily in The Devil Wears Prada has come forward, revealing that the iconic line “a million girls would kill for this job” was based on something she once said.
Speaking out for the first time on Vogue's The Run-Through podcast, stylist Leslie Fremar revealed she was the inspiration behind Emily’s assistant role in the cult-favorite film, which was played by Emily Blunt.
“I know I am. I am Emily,” Fremar told Vogue's Chloe Malle, who has succeeded Anna Wintour as editor of the iconic fashion publication.
“I definitely told her 'a million girls would kill for the job,'” Fremar said, echoing one of the film’s most iconic lines. “That was definitely my line because I actually really believed that, and I knew that she didn't necessarily wanna be there."
Fremar shared that she didn't learn about the 2003 novel after she had already left her job with Wintour and Vogue.
Wintour was given an advance copy of the novel, which Fremar described as “quite mean,” adding that the version published was later “softened.”
“I got a call from Anna's office saying that she wanted to see me. I was petrified. [Wintour] said, ‘Who's Lauren Weisberger? And I said, ‘She was your junior assistant. And she's like, ‘Well, she wrote a book about us, and you're worse than me'."
"I wanted to, like, ask more questions, but you can't really ask her that many questions," Fremar added.
Fremar later spoke about her experience working with Weisberger, saying she “didn’t really socialize with anyone else” in the office. She went on about how the book's release felt like a “betrayal."
“It just felt like this exposure,” Fremar said of the book. “Even though someone obviously advised her to make it fiction, it was really based off of a lot of things that, you know, I lived, she lived," she said, adding, “We never talked again after she left."
"I probably was not very nice, and I probably was high-strung because I felt like I was having to do her job as well,” Fremar said of Weisberger.
“So for me, that was really frustrating. I think she was probably just sitting there writing a book and not necessarily taking the job as seriously as I did," she added.
Miranda Priestly—played by Meryl Streep in an Oscar-nominated role—is widely believed to be inspired by Wintour. The film is based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger, who previously worked as a junior assistant at Vogue. Her experience there helped shape the story, and she is often seen as the real-life counterpart to Andy Sachs, portrayed by Anne Hathaway.
Weisberger worked under Wintour for about a year before leaving to pursue writing.
The Devil Wears Prada centers on Andy, a young journalist trying to navigate the demanding and often ruthless fashion industry under Miranda, the commanding editor of Runway magazine.
The film eventually became a cult favorite, especially for its standout cast. Nearly two decades later, all four are returning for the sequel, along with original supporting actors Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman.
A new lineup of cast members will also join the film, including Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet, B. J. Novak, and Conrad Ricamora. The sequel movie is now showing in cinemas.
