Tea with Elton John was terrifying – I was so star-struck
The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger tells Hannah Stephenson about the new musical of her hit book and why fashion leaves her cold
BESTSELLING author Lauren Weisberger is reflecting on her life since her debut novel The Devil Wears Prada was published 18 years ago, spawning a hit film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.
Loosely based on her 10-month stint at American Vogue magazine as an assistant to editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Lauren was 25 when it was published and not in her wildest dreams could she have imagined the success it would achieve.
“It’s still incredible to me how all that went down. I had no perspective on how wild and unusual a ride that was. It was my first book. I didn’t know any different.
“It’s so cool that it still feels relevant. And now they’re making this play of it. Elton John has already written all of the music, which is wild,” she enthuses.
The premiere, postponed due to the pandemic, will be in Chicago in July 2022, later transferring to new York.
The 44-year-old author met Sir Elton and his husband David Furnish during the planning stages, she says. “We went for tea. They were so welcoming, and Elton had the most incredible things to say about the book and the movie, and how excited he was to be working on the project.
“I was so star-struck and nervous at the beginning. I was terrified! But they couldn’t have been lovelier. We talked about books, movies and shows, a bit about fashion – he knows everyone, he’s seen everything.”
Despite having written numerous novels since Prada, as well as its sequel, Revenge Wears Prada, the first book remains her most successful. It was an instant new York Times bestseller, sold four million copies and was translated into 40 languages.
Ironically, given the novel is based on the fashion industry, she’s not actually interested in fashion.
“I love shopping and clothes, but the designer aspect of it is not what does it for me. I’m a quantity versus quality girl. I’m not super-fascinated by the industry insider stuff any more.”
A variety of novels have followed but her latest, Where The Grass Is
Green, was completed during lockdown, at her home in Connecticut, where she lives with her husband, playwright and screenwriter Mike Cohen and their two children, aged 10 and nine.
“It was very difficult having space or time to write, trying to keep some sort of creative focus in the midst of horrible darkness, especially for what I was aiming to be a beach read. But nothing was light and nothing was fun. Every time you turned on the news, you wanted to jump off a bridge.” Homeschooling her children was also a distraction, although she admits her husband did the bulk of it, as she finds her children’s maths hard to understand herself, let alone teach. The new book revolves around sisters, Skye and Peyton, one a successful TV news anchor, whose glamorous lifestyle is turned upside down when her husband is arrested for a college admissions scandal having allegedly tried to buy a place at Princeton for their daughter.
Her polar opposite sister, Skye, is happily married and raising her adopted daughter in a suburban town, but soon finds her life is also affected by the ripple effect of the scandal.
“Overall, the book is a ‘sisters’ book, something I’ve wanted to write for a long time,” says Lauren, “but specifically about the college admissions scandal which, when it happened, I found fascinating.
“We all know it’s wrong when you pose your child on a rowing machine and take pictures of them, applying them to college as rowers when they’ve never rowed in their lives. This is illegal, unethical and immoral. It’s black and white.
“But there are so many shades of grey and I was interested in exploring that. What happens when you have characters faced with these decisions, like the ability and privilege to give their kids every advantage; where do they draw the line?”
Her own children are a few years away from college, but they live in a town where many parents are obsessed with competitive schools and college choices, and willing to give their children every advantage.
“There will be private squash coaching, tutors for every subject, SATS prep for everything.
“We’re surrounded by that kind of lunacy. That is the suburban way of bringing up children, certainly in this country,” she says.
Her children go to the state school in town. “That was important to me. I was a product of public schools, my husband was and both of our mothers were public high school teachers for 30 years.”
“Kids are scheduled to within an inch of their lives,” she says flatly.
“The mothers are in the trenches, hyper involved with schools and the PTA, but if you could see the fathers and the sports coaching, it’s something I can’t wrap my head around.”
Indeed, in the book, two fathers have a fist fight at a school football tournament – and Lauren says this is not totally fiction.
Then there is her ambitious TV anchorwoman... “I have friends who are anchors on news shows, which I’m fascinated with, particularly with women. I can’t fathom what it’s like. I still get nervous on a Zoom call,” Lauren offers.
The relationship between Skye and Peyton is based on Lauren’s with her younger sister, Dana, a marriage and family therapist. They are extremely close and live near each other and their children are also close.
“The way they communicate is the way Dana and I speak to each other – brutal, no-holds-barred, no filter. We tell it how it is.”
One sadness is that the book tour will be virtual.
“The travel is hell, but to be in a book store or a room with readers who have thoughts and feelings about your books, is something I miss a lot.”