The Year of Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is, probably, the biggest star of 2019. The 34-year old actress, producer, and writer went from a one-woman show in Edinburgh to one of the most respected and beloved figures in the showbusiness.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the second woman to have writing credits in James Bond. Some think her involvement is to make the character more #MeToo/Times Up movement-friendly. But, Waller-Bridge says that she wasn’t brought on to make sure things are politically correct. “They were already doing that themselves,” she explains. “They’re having that conversation with themselves the whole time. It was much more practical. “You’re a writer; we need some help with these scenes. And you come up with some dialogue for these characters,” the English actress explained.

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While she’s enjoying the megastardom, it was not easy getting to the top. Phoebe Waller-Bridge was on the edge of depression, as she felt pressured to conform to beauty standards. The inspiration for her award-winning series Fleabag came from the fact that she was offered a limited number of roles upon leaving drama school as felt she had to become an “ideal version of a woman”.

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Waller-Bridge continued: “I felt so angry about it because I didn’t feel I had to justify myself. And I had to prove that first and foremost I had a brain and I was clever. But at the same time I also felt I had to prove that I was pretty and desirable,” she told BBC. Now, the talented star impressed Bond himself, Daniel Craig, who said he felt “privileged” to work with her.

What’s next for Phoebe Waller-Bridge? She is reportedly getting $20 million a year to work with Amazon. Her job is to create content for the streaming service. The Vogue cover girl also has a new HBO show Run. She’s a feminist, animal-lover, but far from typical A-list stars. She’s realistic, goofy, down to earth, but she knows she will never be as cool as right now. “It doesn’t get cooler than writing Bond lines,” Waller-Bridge said. And just by acknowledging how cool she got, makes her even more likable.