A New York City stylist who’s long been rumored to have inspired The Devil Wears Prada assistant Emily has spoken publicly at last — and she didn’t mince her words.
Leslie Fremar, who worked as a Vogue assistant during the 1990s, has now confirmed what many viewers have speculated for years.
“She’s me. I am Emily.”
The reveal arrives as The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters more than two decades after the original, with fashion attention already ramping up ahead of Monday’s Met Gala.
In the 2006 film, Emily Charlton (played by Emily Blunt) is Miranda Priestly’s first assistant at fictional magazine Runway — exhausted, exacting, and famous for her no-nonsense delivery.
Emily quickly became a standout character thanks to her blunt humor, tireless commitment to the job, and a string of lines that fans still quote today.
The movie was adapted from Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel, shaped by her experience working at Vogue under Anna Wintour. While Miranda Priestly is widely seen as a Wintour-inspired figure, Fremar has often been cited as the real-world reference point for Emily — something she discussed in a recent conversation with Vogue.
Speaking on The Run-Through with Vogue podcast, Fremar described how much the story echoed the real atmosphere of a high-pressure fashion office — down to the day-to-day expectations placed on assistants.
“There were rules passed down to me: I couldn’t eat at my desk. You couldn’t even go to the bathroom, because one of the assistants always had to be there,” she said.
She also shared how she first learned about Weisberger’s book — and said the discovery came directly via Wintour.
“I get a call from Anna [Wintour’s] office saying that she wanted to see me. I was petrified, but she 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.’”
Now a leading NYC stylist with A-list clients including Charlize Theron, Fremar also said one of the film’s most quoted moments was pulled from something she actually said back then.
“I definitely told her a million girls would kill for this job.”
Even with the franchise’s popularity, she admitted the situation left her with complicated feelings that never really faded.
“I felt betrayed,” she said, adding she has not spoken to Weisberger in over two decades.
Her remarks also line up, in a way, with one of the sequel’s threads — but we’ll leave that unspoiled.
With the follow-up finally arriving, the series doubles down on its fashion-world DNA, packing in high-profile cameos and aiming to deliver a fresh batch of sharp, memorable dialogue.
We just went to see the new movie, and noted every single cameo so you don’t have to.
Familiar faces are back as well: Anne Hathaway returns as Andy Sachs, now established as a features editor, Emily Charlton has climbed the ladder at Dior, and Miranda Priestly is — as ever — Miranda Priestly.
And yes, Meryl Streep’s Miranda still cuts straight through people with the kind of lines fans expect.
“You’re not a visionary, you’re a vendor.”
All these years later, The Devil Wears Prada remains a defining fashion film — and Fremar’s comments underline that the real-life intensity behind the story may have been just as sharp as what ended up on screen.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in cinemas now.