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HELEN
FIELDING, 44; Job:
Author Earnings:
Worth 2.2million plus ON-DUTY:
Helen Fielding was halfway through an earnest, tedious novel about class and
race in the Caribbean when her editor made a suggestion: why didn't she take
the jolly little column she was writing for the Independent, about life as a
single, thirtysomething woman, and turn it into a book? Three
months later, Bridget Jones's Diary - a Nineties spoof of Pride And Prejudice
was completed, and a cultural phenomenon was born. More than 10million copies
of two Bridget novels have been sold across 33 countries. Renee
Zellweger has made Bridget a screen idol (another film is on the way in 2004).
And countless women have laughed in recognition as Bridget struggles with her
job, her weight, her mother and - of course - her men. OFF-DUTY:
Having left her Notting Hill flat three years ago, after a sick stalker
posted a bullet through her letterbox, Fielding now lives in Los Angeles with
her sitcom writer boyfriend Kevin Curran. DID YOU KNOW: Helen Fielding was once a freelance features writer on the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail - March 31, 2003 |