That time when: Bridget Jones was the office intern

After publishing Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’ Diary (1996), Picador was the natural home for Renee Zellweger, as she sought to familiarise herself with the publishing world and practise her British accent ahead of the filming of the much-anticipated film. “I remember when the early copies came in, they went around the building like wildfire,” recalls Mary Mount, today the publisher of Picador and, back then, an editorial assistant.

“A young work experience woman came into the office and introduced herself as Bridget and we were all a bit bemused by the fact that Bridget seemed to have really nice clothes (not smart, just a lot better than our outfits) and a transatlantic accent” said Mary. “I thought she looked vaguely familiar but in that way that you can’t really place.’

“Obviously there were a few people in the know, who were keeping this incredible secret”. Camilla Elworthy, now publicity director at Picador, was approached to be Renee’s boss and shared a desk with her in the office. She was the soul of discretion. 

No one took much notice of ‘Bridget’, but her cover was almost blown on her first day in the office when her manager in New York sent her a lavish bouquet to wish her well in her ‘new job’. Mary said: “I went round to Cam’s desk for my usual gossip and on the desk was a bunch of 12 long-stemmed roses: literally the kind of roses you have never seen in a publishers’ office. I was thinking what the hell, why is Cam getting these roses on a Monday morning. Cam was on the phone and Bridget did a little gesture to imply that Cam was actually pregnant…none of this turned out to be true, obviously - she just wanted to distract me from asking any more questions.”

One of “Bridget’s” jobs was to go through the press cuttings: the papers would come in and she’d have to cut out anything related to Picador. During those weeks the biggest news about Picador was that Renee Zellwegger was going to be part of Bridget Jones in the movie, “and so her job was literally to cut out nasty articles about herself,” said Mary. “She kept her cool, but did scribble "Rubbish" in the margins of one piece” added Cam.

Renee was so convincing as an intern that, after one meeting, Maria Rejt - deputy publisher of Picador at the time - remarked on how impressive she was and said that we should try and find a job for her if she was serious about getting into publishing.

“I nodded enthusiastically, but said I wasn’t sure what her plans were” said Cam.

 “One afternoon I was waiting for a friend in reception. There was a man sitting there who told me he was the driver for Bridget Jones. I thought ‘this man is mad, it’s a fictional character,’ said Mary. “And then I suddenly realised who Bridget really was - and, of course, I spent the rest of her work experience trying to become her best friend.”

The multi-million-copy number one bestseller
One of The Sunday Times's top 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years

Welcome to Bridget’s first diary: mercilessly funny, endlessly touching and utterly addictive.

A dazzlingly urban satire on modern relationships?
An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family?
Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?

As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of Chardonnay.

Helen Fielding's first Bridget Jones novel, Bridget Jones's Diary, sparked a phenomenon that has seen four books, newspaper columns and the smash-hit film series Bridget Jones's Diary, The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones's Baby and Mad About the Boy.

‘Hilariously funny, miraculously observed, endlessly touching’ – Jilly Cooper, The Daily Telegraph


Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

_{Bridget Jones's Diary was featured in 'The 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years' published by The Sunday Times on 18/08/2024}