I
am Bridget Jones.
By Jane Ridley, The Mirror FOR
millions, Susannah Lewis is THE face of Bridget
Jones.
She posed as the career girl silhouetted on the cover of the
best-seller, staring enigmatically out of the window, cigarette in one
hand, glass of wine in the other. Her
chiselled profile is recognised across the globe after appearing on the
jacket of Bridget
Jones's
Diary, which sold four million copies worldwide. Blonde
actress Renee Zellweger is the new Bridget
as she stars in the eagerly-awaited film - premiered in London this week
- but purists will always associate their neurotic heroine with
Susannah, a petite brunette. The
Mirror tracked down the former newspaper secretary to Madrid and found
she is enjoying the kind of lifestyle which Bridget
could only describe as v.v.g. In
fact, the 33-year-old singleton whose angst has struck a chord with both
men and women would be in a state of bliss to find herself in Susannah's
kitten heels. In
an exclusive interview, Susannah admits she used to be "more Bridget
Jones
than Bridget
Jones".
She whinged about her figure, felt unappreciated at work and drifted
into unsuitable relationships until, like Bridget
with her beloved Mark Darcy, she found Mr Right. She
is happily married to a handsome younger man, has a job in the Spanish
media, a chic apartment and is all set to a start a family. "If
the fictional Bridget
could see me now, I'd like to think she would stop worrying about her
own destiny," laughs Susannah, 38, flicking a dark curl of hair
away from her hazel eyes. "I used to be similar to her in so many
ways, but I've grown up. "Yes,
I had all those girly concerns about my weight, how much I smoked and
the rate my body clock was ticking. Who doesn't? In fact, there is a
little bit of Bridget
Jones
in every woman when she is feeling low and negative about herself. "Bridget
doesn't realise what delightful qualities she has. She's a gutsy, highly
intelligent woman. If she gets real and seizes the opportunities which
come her way, she'll move on. There's something very sweet about her,
but there comes a time when she will have to take charge and get
serious. BRIDGET
should ignore all those fears that society doesn't like over-confident
women. She thinks she will be brash and unattractive to men, and that's
holding her back. "I
came to Spain without any money, without speaking the language, and I
survived to make a success out of my life. Just as I did, Bridget
needs to take chances." Six
years ago, Susannah was a personal assistant at The Independent in
London when the editor asked her to pose for a photograph for a column
written by journalist Helen Fielding under the pseudonym Bridget
Jones.
He
wanted a postage-stamp-sized picture to appear next to the piece,
representing a sassy young woman who liked a drink and a cigarette. His
eyes settled on Susannah. Something of a sex symbol among the
middle-aged male journalists, she was wearing a stylish black jacket and
white shirt. "I
could have been on an early lunch and he'd have asked someone else
because the office was full of glamorous, thirtysomething women with the
right kind of look," says Susannah. "But
I agreed because I thought it would be a laugh. I never imagined that a
simple head shot of me would cause so much fuss."" She
posed in a champagne bar near the paper's offices in Canary Wharf.
"I had to buy my own glass of wine, which was a bit of a
cheek," says Susannah. She has since been paid just pounds 500 by
publishers Picador, who used her image on the first Bridget
Jones
book and its sequel, The Edge Of Reason, which sold 400,000 copies in
Britain alone. She
remembers: "At one stage I was trying to balance my glass of wine,
a fag, a lipstick and a compact mirror. "But
we decided that was too fussy. No woman would be that paranoid to do all
those things at once. The editor assured me it would be a silhouette and
nobody would recognise me. But, of course, they did."" Sure
enough, Susannah was the target of office jokes as colleagues gleefully
compared her lifestyle to that of the hapless Bridget.
She lived alone in a small South London flat, and, although she didn't
keep a diary, she regaled them with stories of disastrous romantic
encounters. Her 13-year live-in relationship with an older man - her
maths tutor before university - had broken up and she was enjoying a new
freedom. "Up
until then, I'd only ever slept with one man," she says.
"People assumed I was getting up to all sorts of things, but they'd
have been disappointed if they'd known the truth. Throughout my
twenties, I'd been living almost like a housewife, and now I was
discovering myself. "I
took up salsa dancing. I'd work all day, then go to a dance class at 7pm
and not get home till 5am."" She
was known as a die-hard party animal, living up to the image when she
persuaded a senior executive on the paper to salsa with her on a
bar-room table. And she confesses that, in true Bridget
fashion, she had a crush on the chief reporter, timing her trips to the
canteen so she could share the same lift. BUT
invariably he'd be collared by someone and my attempts would be
thwarted," she says. "I'd have to wander nonchalantly back to
my desk, pretending I'd forgotten something." In
common with Bridget,
she smoked 20 cigarettes a day, drank chardonnay and worried about her
weight, starving before dates and making endless resolutions to go to
the gym. "I
didn't count every single calorie, but I was the sort who'd try every
new diet going,"" says Susannah, who is 5ft 5in and
small-boned. "I was always hovering over the 9st mark, and, of
course, I wanted to be under it. "I
had some scary big pants which Bridget
would be proud of. Real passion-killers. I was enjoying myself, but I'd
have moments when I'd think: 'Why am I single? Is there something wrong
with me?' People were getting married off and I'd be wondering who I'd
be going on holiday with, what I'd be doing at Christmas and next
Valentine's Day." She
had her own version of Bridget's
confidantes Jude and Shazzer in Serena and Brian - who, like Tom in the
Diary, was gay. She says: "They were a wonderful support team. We
had endless commiseration sessions about how bad life was, how awful men
were and the miserable time we were having in our jobs. "They'd
start in a wine bar straight after work and last until the early hours,
when I was always the first to crash out after two much red wine and
cartons of ice cream."" Serena
and Brian rallied around when she had a four-month affair with a Daniel
Cleaver-type who was already attached. Later they talked her into going
on a blind date. "It
was a complete disaster," recalls Susannah. "The moment he
stepped out of the taxi, I realised it was going to be a long night. I
ended up spending a lot of time in the loo - anything to get away from
him."" She
also had some embarrassing moments at work. Once, her manager was giving
an important sales pitch. "I
was sitting next to him, taking notes, when I noticed what looked like
an old rag coming out of the leg of his trousers," she says.
"He must have pulled them off in a hurry the night before, because
they were yesterday's underpants. "When
they eventually landed on the floor, I had to reach across and stuff
them in my handbag. My face was puce and the clients looked
horrified."" Every
Wednesday, she would pore over the Bridget
Jones
column in The Independent. "Sometimes
it would get a bit much and I got paranoid that I really was the model
for what happened to Bridget,"
she says. "It was a standing joke that Helen Fielding was watching
my every move. I began to wonder if I was modelling myself on Bridget,
or she was modelling herself on me."" One
week, she was shocked to read that Bridget
was planning a romantic break with a potential lover in Prague. "I'd
just called off a weekend in Prague with a possible boyfriend at the
very last minute. I'd booked the flights and hotel, but woke up in a
cold sweat. I thought: 'What am I doing? Do I really want to be with
this wholly unsuitable person who I hardly know? Better get out now
before I make a huge mistake.' "So
I plucked up the courage to tell him I couldn't go. I ended up going
with my gay friend."" Another
Bridget-style
episode was a liaison in Paris with a Madrid DJ called Graham. Susannah
- who had now left the paper and was working for almost twice her old
salary in radio - was sure he was The One. I
MARCHED in to see my boss and announced I was moving to Madrid to open a
salsa bar with Graham," she says. "People must have thought
I'd gone mad to give up everything on a whim."" She
sold her furniture and most of her belongings in jumble sales and drove
through France to join her new man. They did open their salsa club, but
their affair was over in nine months. Susannah
began a new career as a sub-editor on Hello! magazine and fell in love
with the vibrant continental lifestyle. She says: "There was no way
I could have returned to London. My life was virtually perfect. For the
first time in years, I stopped thinking that I needed a man in tow to be
truly fulfilled."" So
it was ironic that it was then she met her future husband, Cuban
musician Vladimir Nunez de Moya, 11 years her junior. "I
was stood up by a friend of my sister's," laughs Susannah, giggling
because it's the sort of thing which might happen to Bridget.
"He
was in Madrid and I'd arranged to meet him. I waited and waited, but he
didn't turn up. Walking home, I heard the most incredible Cuban music
coming from one of my favourite salsa bars. I went in and Vladimir was
playing the bongos. And that was that. "I
knew I'd struck gold when this gorgeous, fit, non-drinking, non-smoking,
unassuming Cuban man quietly asked me if he could ask my father for my
hand in marriage. What British man would do that? I said he didn't have
to ask my father because I made the decisions and the answer was
definitely Yes. "Someone
like Vladimir would be good for Bridget,
because he likes shapely women with hips and a bust. And he helped me to
finally give up smoking."" They
married in Madrid in June 1998, and hope to start a family soon. Anyone
who watches them dancing salsa together can see their incredible
chemistry. "It's
weird how things have worked out, but I know my own mind now and I'm not
bothered what people think," says Susannah. "If
only Bridget
could do the same. I love her dearly, but I want to shake her up.
Somehow, I fear she'll still be obsessed with the same things when she's
a grandmother. "As
for me, I won't be giving them a second thought - or will I?" SUSANNAH'S
MOVIE VIEW BJ
FANS will not be disappointed. The casting is perfection, the comic
timing spot-on and the soundtrack is set to have a cult following of its
own. And for all its clever references and twists, which all BJ
followers will lap up, it is also a delicious romantic comedy. Probably
the best compliment of the night was paid by my Cuban husband Vladimir,
who, despite speaking barely a word of English, waved me away when I
tried to fill him in on the storyline and laughed, cried and applauded
with the best of them. Renee
Zellweger is great. It cannot have been easy for the tiny Texan to turn
herself into a voluptuously "normal" size 12, but her very
English version is totally convincing. Her Bridget
is cute and womanly, and it makes perfect sense that in the end men are
going to be lining up. Hugh
Grant, as bad boy Daniel Cleaver, is smooth, funny, naughty and
gorgeous. And Colin Firth as Mark Darcy is the casting from heaven -
everyone's wish come true. It's a great movie, so go dig out your scariest pants in Bridget's honour and enjoy. (v.v. good.)
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