3 weeks ago
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Teri Hatcher, who’s stepping into Miranda Priestly’s killer heels in the West End’s The Devil Wears Prada musical from next month, is looking forward to experiencing London. The last time she was here she was pregnant with daughter Emerson, who’s now 28, while making the 1997 Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies alongside Pierce Brosnan. ‘I hardly remember it,’ she says. ‘It was so long ago, and I was only here for about two weeks.’
It’s fortunate, then, that Teri, 61, is taking over in the role from Vanessa Williams, once her co-star in Desperate Housewives and a close friend. ‘The role is going from friend to friend and from diva to diva,’ says Vanessa, 63, with a delicious laugh. ‘I’m not seeing it as leaving the show, it’s more that I’m passing it on. I do believe I had something to do with Teri getting the role. Well, I told the producers it should be her!’
As it turns out, Teri is nobody’s idea of a career-driven ice maiden like Runway editor Miranda Priestly, who is based on the chilly Vogue boss Anna ‘Nuclear’ Wintour and played in the two blockbuster films by Meryl Streep.
And unlike Wintour, who is known for rivalries with colleagues including former British Vogue editors Alexandra Shulman and Edward Enninful, Teri gets along very well with Vanessa.
They’ve known each other since both starred in an ad campaign around the Millennium, and have been in each other’s lives ever since. Both agree they’ve had ‘nine lives’ in showbusiness terms, but one of those was less than happy, with the atmosphere on hit drama Desperate Housewives being toxic.
Vanessa only joined Teri and the core cast of Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman and Nicollette Sheridan in 2010, but in the early days on the show, when shooting a cover for Vanity Fair magazine, there was a huge blow-up over the idea that Teri might be in the centre of the picture, with Cross reportedly ‘screaming’ at the show’s publicist over a perception that Teri was hogging the limelight.
Teri Hatcher is taking over in the role of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada musical from Vanessa Williams, left, who was once her co-star in Desperate Housewives and is a close friend
Some suggested Longoria, Huffman, Cross and Sheridan were in a ‘clique’ from which Teri was excluded. Longoria described Teri as a ‘loner’, and later mentioned being ‘bullied’ by an unnamed co-worker on the set, leading to speculation that the tension was with Teri.
When the show ended after eight seasons in 2012, Teri’s co-stars left her name off a leaving present for the crew. Teri later reflected: ‘I don’t really know who gave or did what. I know what I did and I can look in the mirror in a good way about the people I worked with and how much respect I had for them.’
All of the above makes today’s display of sweetness and light between Teri and Vanessa quite remarkable. ‘Can you believe how gracious Vanessa is?’ says Teri. ‘She takes care of everyone and everything. Not everyone is that way. Some women just can’t find it in themselves.
'I always felt Vanessa and I bonded over motherhood. I was a single mum and a breadwinner when I was doing Desperate Housewives, and I had so much respect for Vanessa for doing the same.’ (Vanessa was between her second and third marriages during the show and had four children; Teri had split from her second husband, actor Jon Tenney, in 2003.)
Taking on the West End role is a dream come true for Teri, who’s a huge fan of the original film. ‘I love it,’ she says. ‘My daughter and I have watched it three times a year for years. I probably know every line by heart.’
It’s not her first musical, having starred in Cabaret and The Addams Family. Now, as she prepares to play Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada, she says: ‘You don’t want to repeat what anyone else has done; the fun is finding where it connects to you personally. The exciting thing for me is to stay within the range but try to find touches of myself for audiences that have seen it before.’
She takes over for five months in October, so Vanessa is compiling a list of the best places to eat and visit in London, plus the best hairdressers and skincare experts.
How about dating advice? Has Vanessa found any cute British men during her two years in the UK? (She’s been largely single since her third marriage ended in 2021.) ‘No! I found no one,’ she says. Teri chips in, ‘I haven’t been on a date in seven years.’ ‘Same here,’ says Vanessa. ‘Seven years.’
Teri says: ‘There aren’t a lot of good guys, and older men often want to date younger women. I’m tired of framing my life through the lens of a man. I’ve made my own life. I take care of my parents – my dad has dementia. I travel, I exercise. I’m not saying I wouldn’t go on a date, I’m just not pining.’
Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Vanessa Williams, Eva Longoria and Teri Hatcher in Desperate Housewives
Vanessa Williams is leaving The Devil Wears Prada musical next month. ‘The role is going from friend to friend and from diva to diva,’ she says
What about dating apps? ‘I tried that a few years ago,’ says Teri. ‘I went on Hinge, and checked my account one day; it just said, “You’re out.” I went on Twitter and said, “Hey, Hinge, what happened to my account?” And they said, “We kicked you off because we got complaints from people who thought you were pretending to be Teri Hatcher.” I thought, “I don’t think I need to do this any more.”’
She says there’s nothing of Miranda Priestly in her own make-up. ‘I know I could not have had my career without being a confident professional, but it’s not my nature. Miranda is feared, a diva, she walks into a room with a grounded sense of confidence. That does not come easily to me. I’m more of a domestic diva – given the choice I’d spend my days reading at home with my cat.’
Teri Hatcher will join The Devil Wears Prada The Musical from October 20 at London’s Dominion Theatre. For tickets visit: devilwearspradamusical.com.
English (US) ·