Bridget Jones: Life lessons she taught Gen Z from self-acceptance to the power of granny pants

Your 20s are a whirlwind of bad dates, career crises, and wondering if you’ll ever really get your life together.

Enter Bridget Jones, the queen of chaotic charm, who has been stumbling through life lessons since before many of us can remember.

Despite the original Bridget Jones’s Diary book being released in 1996 and the film in 2001, it seems the floundering and flawed heroine has captivated the hearts of Gen Z, who weren’t born when Helen Fielding’s novel was first published.

Fielding says she finds it “comforting” that women in their 20s have a real interest in Bridget’s trials and tribulations. At her book signings, she says “half the audience are Gen Zs”.

From navigating embarrassing work mishaps to realising that self love (and maybe an extra glass of Chardonnay) is the key to happiness, Bridget has been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale.

Ahead of the release of the new film Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy next week, we’ve been speaking to three women in their 20s about the life lessons the character taught them: Sophie Gwillym from Cardiff, 28, Hannah Booth in Chester, 25, and 27-year-old Sophie Tyler from Yorkshire.

And then there’s us – Yasmin and Noor – both fans of the franchise who have a lot to say about it.