A celebrity stylist who claims to be the real-life inspiration for Emily Blunt's ruthless fashionista character in The Devil Wears Prada has spoken out for the first time as the film's sequel arrives in theaters. In Tuesday's episode of Vogue's Run-Through podcast, Leslie Fremar confirmed that she personally hired Lauren Weisberger as a junior assistant to Vogue's then editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. At the time, Fremar had just been promoted to Wintour's first assistant, and she and Weisberger worked closely together for about eight months.
After leaving Vogue, Weisberger published her debut novel, The Devil Wears Prada, widely seen as a fictionalized account of her time at the fashion magazine. The icy character Miranda Priestly was perceived as a thinly veiled version of Wintour. Fremar recalled telling Weisberger, 'A million girls would kill for the job,' a line that later became iconic in the 2006 film. 'That was definitely my line because I actually really believed that, and I knew that she didn't necessarily want to be there,' Fremar said.
Fremar also confirmed that many details from Weisberger's novel and the film adaptation, starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, accurately reflected the working atmosphere at Vogue. However, she viewed the book as a 'betrayal,' especially after reading an early copy that included harsh details she believes were 'softened' by editors before publication. 'It just felt like this exposure,' Fremar said. '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.'
Blunt's character, Emily Charlton, frequently clashes with protagonist Andy Sachs, played by Hathaway, a dynamic Fremar says mirrored her real-life relationship with Weisberger. 'For me, the driving force was that I really loved fashion and wanted my career long-term to be in fashion,' Fremar explained. 'And I think for her, the endgame was different. I think she wanted to be a writer, not that she couldn't get things out of that experience that would help a writing career — obviously she did — but I think the fashion part did not interest her.'
Fremar added, 'I think this idea that the Emily character is not very pleasant or nice or seems high-strung is because 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. So for me, that was really frustrating.'
After Vogue, Fremar became director of celebrity relationships at Prada and now works as a Hollywood stylist, with clients including Julianne Moore, Jennifer Connelly, and Charlize Theron. Weisberger has built a full-time writing career from the success of The Devil Wears Prada, publishing a sequel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, in 2013. Fremar said she and Weisberger have 'never talked again' since working together, and admitted a 2026 reunion would be 'very awkward.'
Only time will tell if Fremar's experiences make it into The Devil Wears Prada 2, which hits theaters Friday. Meanwhile, Wintour has notably warmed to both the franchise and Streep's portrayal of Miranda in recent years.
