Fielding: Bridget’s era is over

THE AGE of the singleton is over, according to Helen Fielding, who says Bridget Jones’s Diary would be a different book if it were written today.

The 1996 book and the 2001 film adaptation divided the world into single people and “smug marrieds”, who looked at Bridget with pity because she did not have a man.

But Fielding said times have changed. She told an audience at the Hay Festival: “I think what probably has shifted now is that pressure to be in a couple. I think people are too embarrassed now to say, ‘Why aren’t you married?’ because they know it’s a stupid question.

“Life is very complicated. Gender roles are evolving apace and people choose to live the way they live.”

Fielding said her main concern for today’s young women is the self-doubt brought on by use of social media.