Cosmo’s Brown Calls It Quits
Helen Gurley Brown, the influential editor who turned Cosmopolitan into a sexually frank and empowering guide for millions of young women, is preparing to yield her post after a reign of more than 30 years.
The Hearst Corp., which publishes the monthly, announced Tuesday that Bonnie Fuller, now editor in chief of the company’s Marie Claire magazine, will serve as deputy editor under Brown for about 18 months before succeeding her as editor in chief.
Although word of Brown’s exit had been expected since she marked her 30th anniversary in the job last spring, staffers at Cosmopolitan and throughout Hearst were caught off guard by Tuesday’s announcement. It heralded what one insider called the “very weird” picture of two editors, each known for hands-on control, supervising a publication long used to the firm rule of one--Brown, now 73 years old.
“I’ve had my eye on Bonnie Fuller for most of the last decade,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “We talked about trying to bring her to Cosmo a few years ago, but she went on to edit YM with great success.”
Cosmopolitan, a cash cow that sells 2.5 million copies a month and had ad revenues of $159.7 million last year, invariably features the curviest of models on its covers and an assortment of how-to pieces inside, such as this month’s “Who Says You Have to Love Him in Order to Want Him” and “The 7-Minute Sex Secret.” But the magazine didn’t deal exclusively with sex.
Brown, a tiny whisper of a woman, said last spring: “Career girl and Cosmo girl are synonymous. Work is as important as love. She can have them both--and we’ll help her.”
Fuller, 39, spent five years editing YM, doubling the teen magazine’s circulation to 1.8 million, before joining Hearst in 1994 to launch the American edition of Marie Claire, a leading French women’s magazine. The February issue of Marie Claire, which contains articles on “7 Sex Sins You Should Commit” and “Get the Right Man Addicted to You,” suggests that Fuller has a feel for her new audience.
Fuller “thoroughly understands the Cosmo girl,” Brown said.
Fuller will move to Cosmopolitan when Hearst names her successor at Marie Claire. When Fuller becomes editor in chief of Cosmopolitan, Brown will continue as editor in chief of the magazine’s 27 foreign editions.
