Emily Charlton, nicknamed Em, was originally Miranda Priestly's junior assistant before being promoted to senior assistant sometime prior to the start of The Devil Wears Prada. She met with Andrea Sachs and at Miranda's orders hired her at the start of the novel and film.
The Novel
Throughout the novel, she is shown to idolize Miranda, and refuses to listen to any criticism of her. She constantly upbraids Andrea for not doing her job quickly and perfectly; Andrea realizes partway through that Emily does this because whenever she takes extra time to do tasks or has to run out on errands for Miranda, Emily is stuck dealing with their boss by herself. On rare occasions, she breaks down enough to criticize and complain about Miranda herself, but always quickly backtracks and reverts to idolizing her, a trait she shares with some of the clackers. She gets mono towards the end of the book, leaving Andrea to cancel her long-planned vacation with her boyfriend Alex and go to Paris with Miranda. As the novel goes on, she is shown to slowly begin liking Andrea, even helping her avoid get fired on one occasion and appearing reluctant to fire her at the end, although she laughs about the reasons behind it with Andrea.
The Film
Emily is very superficial in the film, obsessing about her clothes and weight. She constantly mocks Andrea for her lack of fashion sense and originally decided not to hire her and attempted to send her away before Miranda ordered her otherwise. Throughout the film, she is shown to be very busy, always running around and getting things done, but unlike the novel she does not become friendly, instead criticizing and mocking Andrea at every opportunity. She is hit by a car near the end of the film, forcing Andrea to go to Paris in her place.
Revenge Wears Prada
In the second novel, it is revealed that Emily was fired without explanation several months after Andrea quit, leaving her bitter towards Miranda. Although still angry at Andrea for the way she left, after they run into each other in a cooking class they begin to become friends and eventually go into business together running their own bridal magazine. When Elias-Clark offers to buy them out, putting them under the control of new Director of Editorial Content Miranda Priestly, Emily jumps at the chance and doesn't understand Andrea's refusal. Eventually, she goes behind Andrea's back and has Andrea's husband Max, who owns part of the magazine, join with her to gain controlling interest and sell it. She genuinely believed that she was doing the right thing for both of them, and is devastated when Andrea is furious and ends their friendship. Emily goes with the magazine to Elias-Clark, only to be unceremoniously fired by Miranda again a few weeks later. At the end of the novel, she opens her own hair-styling salon for celebrities in Los Angeles.
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