Helen Fielding (born 19 February 1958)is a British journalist, novelist, and screenwriter best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones. HerFielding's first novel was set in a refugee camp in East Africa, and she started writing Bridget Jones in an anonymous column in London's Independent newspaper. This turned into an unexpected hit, leading to four Bridget Jones novels and three movies, with a fourth movie announced in April 2024 for release in 2025.
Fielding credits Bridget Jones's success to tapping into the gap between what we feel we are expected to be and what we really are.
Fielding's novel Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) became a surprise global bestseller, published in over 40 countries. Fielding continued to chronicle Bridget's life in the novels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (1999), Bridget Jones's Baby: The Diaries (2017) and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2013), all of which became international bestsellers. In a survey by The Guardian, Bridget Jones's Diary was named one of the ten novels that best defined the 20th century. In 2024, the New York Times named Bridget Jones's Diary one of the twenty-two funniest novels since Catch 22.
The movies chronicling these adventures, Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones's Baby, all did exceptionally well at the international box office with the most recent opening, with Bridget Jones's Baby breaking UK box office records.
Fielding's novel, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2013), explored Bridget's life as a widowed mother to two small children and her attempts to re-enter the dating scene. It occupied the number one spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list for six months. In her review for the New York Times, Sarah Lyall called the novel "sharp and humorous" and said Fielding had "allowed her heroine to grow up into someone funnier and more interesting than she was before." The movie Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, announced for release in 2025, will see Renee Zellweger reprising her role as Bridget Jones for the fourth time. The movie will be based on Fielding's novel and original screenplay, further developed by a team including writers Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan.
In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Fielding was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. In December 2016, the BBC's Woman's Hour included Bridget Jones as one of the seven women who had most influenced British female culture over the last seven decades. Bridget was the only woman included who was not a real-life person.
Fielding is currently at work on a new non-Bridget novel.
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