Bridget Zones! Fashionista’s Brightest Star Admits Public Peeing Problem; Assesses Future On Seventh Avenue

On Friday, Oct. 5, two days after the final episode of the SOAPnet series The Fashionista Diaries aired, its breakout star, Bridget Helene, met the Transom for a drink and an assessment of life after reality TV. “A lot of people in the fashion industry actually watch it, believe it or not,” Ms. Helene said. “I’ll see them out now and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God. You’re from …’ And there’ll be that awkward moment where I’ll be all ‘Well, uh, yeah.’”

The show, for those who missed it, immersed half a dozen assistants in the vicious shark pool of fashion. Ms. Helene, 24, of Pittsburgh, was one of the three offered a job, at Seventh House Public Relations, at the end of the show.

“Mandie Erickson, she, like, loves me,” Ms. Helene boasted, speaking of Seventh’s head honchette, under whom she served. “They didn’t show this, but Mandie said, ‘The door’s always open.’”

But Ms. Helene wants instead to pursue work at a fashion magazine such as Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar.

How did people react to the episode in which Ms. Helene urinated on the office floor after one of her laughing fits? “My parents already know that that happens sometimes,” she said. “It happened one time when I was shopping at the mall in high school. I had to leave. … But yeah, people were horrified, some people. But a lot were supportive; I guess a lot of people have that problem.”

Huh. So what has she learned from the whole reality-TV experience?

“I learned to not care what other people think,” Ms. Helene said. “I didn’t care that much before, but this like set it over the edge because people really said rude things about me. Everyone thought I was a huge bitch. I had to stop reading the blogs. One person wrote I deserve a public Malaysian caning. I mean, just like ridiculous.”

And in case you were wondering, people, she’s no high-culture snob!

“I really liked being on TV and I hate how people are embarrassed to say that. Like I know other people who were on it liked doing it, too, but they all like want to act like they didn’t. I thought it was much more fun than having a real job. It was like being babied, it was like being pampered all the time. It was like, ‘I want an iced coffee,’ and one appears.”

Or, like, you pee on the ground and some poor shlub has to clean it up?

“Yeah, it’s amaazing!”