Keeping it in the family.
Chloe Malle, the 39-year-old daughter of actress Candice Bergen, was named American Vogue’s new head of editorial content on Tuesday.
The position was filled by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour — who ironically has an interesting connection to Malle’s famous mother.
In “Sex and the City,” Bergen, 79, played Enid Frick, the fictional Vogue editor-in-chief who bears many similarities to Wintour, 75.
Enid is introduced in the show’s fourth season in 2002 when Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) lands a job at Vogue. Enid is extremely tough on Carrie, harshly criticizing her writing style and pushing her to meet the magazine’s over-the-top standards.
But Carrie and Enid’s tumultuous relationship improves over time as they bond over Enid’s struggles with aging and dating. Enid even confides in Carrie that she’s in a relationship with a married man.
Bergen portrayed Enid in three episodes of the HBO series across seasons 4, 5 and 6, as well as in the first “Sex and the City” movie in 2008. In the film, Enid convinces Carrie to do a bridal photoshoot for Vogue.
15 years later, Bergen’s Enid returned in Season 2 of the critically panned sequel series, “And Just Like That.”
In the HBO Max episode, which aired July 2023, Enid has been let go from Vogue and is trying to launch her own digital magazine for older women. Enid wants Carrie to write for the newsletter, while Carrie in turns wants Enid to write a blurb for her new book. During an awkward exchange at the launch party for Enid’s magazine, she asks Carrie for a $10,000 donation. Carrie ultimately donates the money, and Enid agrees to help promote Carrie’s book.
Ahead of Bergen’s appearance on “AJLT,” she and Parker, 60, appeared on Malle’s Vogue podcast. Malle brought her mom to the Condé Nast podcast studios at One World Trade Center in NYC for the interview, while Parker joined via Zoom.
In her article about the podcast interview, Malle shared that to prepare for the conversation she rewatched Bergen’s first “Sex and the City” episode.
Malle also mentioned that she and Carrie Bradshaw have “uncanny career parallels.”
“From Vogue writers (and editors) to podcasters (I even started my career at The New York Observer, where Candace Bushnell’s famous column that inspired the series ran), what better chapter of Carrie’s life to focus on—a meta moment indeed!” Malle wrote.
During the interview, Parker jokingly asked Bergen why they aren’t friends and insisted she’s going to keep texting her until Bergen replies.
Malle added that “a beautiful friendship was born in a windowless podcast studio.”
Malle is Bergen’s only child with the “Murphy Brown” star’s late husband, Louis Malle. The French film director died in 1995 at age 63 from complications related to lymphoma. Bergen’s second husband, Marshall Rose, died in February at age 88 after battling Parkinson’s.
In 2015, Bergen told Dallas News that Malle has Louis’ “dynamism and his intellect” and gets her “sense of humor” from her mom.
Malle has worked at Vogue since 2011. She previously was editor of Vogue.com, a contributing editor and the social editor.
“Fashion and media are both evolving at breakneck speed, and I am so thrilled—and awed—to be part of that,” Malle said in a statement. “I also feel incredibly fortunate to still have Anna just down the hall as my mentor.”
In her interview with the New York Times Tuesday, Malle called herself a “proud ‘nepo baby.’”
“There is no question that I have 100% benefited from the privilege I grew up in,” Malle stated. “It’s delusional to say otherwise. I will say, though, that it has always made me work much harder. It has been a goal for a lot of my life to prove that I’m more than Candice Bergen’s daughter, or someone who grew up in Beverly Hills.”
Last month, Page Six reported that Malle is a favorite among staff and was up against global director of Vogue Runway, Nicole Phelps, and a few others, for the role. She also notably oversaw Lauren Sanchez’s Vogue cover interview timed to the her Italy wedding to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
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