Exclusive: Leslie Fremar on Being the Real Emily In The Devil Wears Prada
4/28/202655 min
The truth is finally revealed! After 20+ years, stylist Leslie Fremar has gone on record to say that she is the inspiration behind Emily from The Devil Wears Prada. Back in 1999, she was the one who hired writer Lauren Weisberger to be Anna Wintour's assistant and she even remembers being the one to say "a million girls would kill for this job".
On this episode of The Run-Through with Vogue, hear Leslie tell the story of how she became first assistant to Anna Wintour after first saying no, the real story behind the Harry Potter manuscript, and whether or not she's spoken to Lauren Weisberger all these years later.
The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsChloe Malle· Host0:00
[upbeat music] This is The Runthrough. I'm Chloe Mel, and I am so excited for this extremely important exclusive podcast with Leslie Fremar, the real Emily revealed. Leslie, I'm so excited about this. We've all been talking about this for a few weeks, and it just means a lot to me and to the podcast that you're coming on because I was really touched when we spoke on the phone, and you shared that this had just been something that you had not talked about for a while. And, um, I'm just have a lot of questions [laughs] and very curious.
Leslie Fremar· Guest0:40
I don't think I've ever actually really talked about it.
Chloe Malle· Host0:43
Interesting. Why are you open to talking about this now, and why do you think people are so fascinated by this i- story of who these characters really are?
Leslie Fremar· Guest0:52
I think... I don't... I think at the time, 20 years ago, the fashion industry was very, um, hush-hush.
Chloe Malle· Host1:00
Mm-hmm.
Leslie Fremar· Guest1:00
And it was like an inner circle type situation, and I feel like when she wrote the book, no one really knew much about it. Um, because everyone-- not that it was secretive- Yeah ... but it was just hard to break in and- Well, it was before social media ... exclusive and- It was less- Yeah ...
Chloe Malle· Host1:17
it was more insular.
Leslie Fremar· Guest1:18
Yeah, very. So I think at that time, people found that really interesting to get a real insider view because no one, frankly, would have exposed it- Yeah ... quite like