Playing a tough boss has left men scared of me, says glamorous French star of Netflix hit Emily In Paris

Straight-talking and effortlessly chic, she has won over audiences as uncompromising marketing boss Sylvie Grateau in hit Netflix show Emily In Paris.

But Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu has admitted that taking on such a strong female role has left both men and women scared of her.

Defending Sylvie’s brittle exterior – and her vertiginous heels – the glamorous French actress, 61, says success in women is often wrongly associated with them being a ‘bitch’.

‘Sylvie is only part of me!’ she said in an interview with The Times magazine. ‘And Sylvie is layered. She is tough, but she’s vulnerable.’ 

She added: ‘When you’re hypersensitive you have to be tough, to protect yourself, otherwise what? You’re just gonna cry all the time. You need armour to protect yourself from this s****y world. You have to say no. You have to have boundaries. Because people try to get you all the time.’

Philippine as her character Sylvie Grateau and Lily Collins as Emily Cooper in Emily in Paris

Insisting that men ‘shouldn’t be frightened’ of women like Sylvie, she said: ‘I think a good man, a mensch, is not afraid of a strong woman.’ And she quipped, pointedly: ‘Are there enough good men?’

Being tough is something that comes naturally to the star in a world where the roles for older women have historically been few and far between.

The daughter of French actor Philippe Leroy and model Francoise Laurent, Philippine carved out a career in French cinema and rejected the draw of Hollywood because ‘I’m really very European’.

There were ‘dips’, she said, in her forties, but today she is ‘living proof that you can rebuild a career when you are older’.

Philippine at a Saint Laurent fashion show held at Place Jacques Rueff in Paris in February

Philippine has won over audiences as uncompromising marketing boss Sylvie Grateau in hit Netflix show Emily In Paris

She starred in three series of the hit French comedy Call My Agent! (later remade for English-speaking audiences) and has now finished filming the fourth season of Emily In Paris, which will air next month.

And despite her feet hurting after filming in Sylvie’s stilettos, Phlippine is unapologetic about the youthful outfits she wears on the show. ‘There are these rules, but you don’t have to follow rules. I’m not the kind of person who follows rules. These days women do whatever they wanna do. Sylvie’s character is about being free of whatever age you happen to be.’

The fourth series of Emily In Paris starts on Netflix on August 15.