Anna Wintour talks about getting fired back in the '70s

It's hard to believe that Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue and one of the most respected women in fashion, was ever let go from a job. A fashion job, especially.

But that's exactly what Wintour revealed in a new book called "Winners: And How They Succeed" by Alastair Campbell.

Wintour told Campbell that back in 1975, the higher-ups at Harper's Bazaar fired her as a junior fashion editor, a job she'd had for only nine months.

So there you have it. Straight from the horse's mouth.

The woman who many believe served as the inspiration for Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada" was fired.

Looking back on the firing now, Wintour doesn't seem bitter. In an excerpt of the book provided by the New York Post, Wintour says: "It is important to have setbacks, because that is the reality of life. Perfection doesn't exist."

It's a sentiment that was shared by Apple CEO Steve Jobs when he gave a speech at Stanford University in 2005.

On talking about getting fired from the company in 1985, he said: "Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again."

Of course, you could say Wintour had the last laugh.

She took over the reins at Vogue in 1988, completely revitalizing the publication. She was also named the artistic director of Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue, in 2013.

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