Bridget Jones has been through a lot — and so has Renée Zellweger.
The beloved character returned to the screen Friday, cautiously finding love after tragedy.
“It’s a bit of a departure from the last two films,” the star said of “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” in which — spoiler alert — Bridget is dating again after her husband’s death.
Renée Zellweger’s beloved character Bridget Jones returned to the big screen Thursday in “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Ball” the fourth installment of the British rom-com franchise, also starring Leo Woodall.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Zellweger, now 55, first stepped into the role of the British rom-com heroine in 2001.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
“It’s looking at, I guess, the heavier things that life throws at you— those milestones that we all sort of understand at this stage in life,” Zellweger told “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie Friday.
After a string of romantic heartaches, as well as the death of one of her best friends, Zellweger herself has settled into a new groove at 55: She’s found love with British reality star Ant Anstead and is now living in Laguna Beach, Calif., hanging out with his kids, wearing a baseball cap and driving a minivan, according to friends.
Zellweger first stepped into Bridget’s incredibly big knickers back in 2001 (in “Bridget Jones’s Diary”), and the Oscar winner has admitted to sharing experiences with her character over the two and a half decades.
“All of us know,” she told Guthrie “about loss and starting over and trying to heal and we’re never the same person on the other side of loss, are we?”
Bridget (Zellweger) navigates life as a widow and single mom with the help of her friends in the latest installment of the film.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Sally Phillips, who plays Bridget’s best friend Shazza, told Page Six: “”Our characters have been through stuff … and in life we have been through grief and loss and broken hearts … ”byPip
Her co-star and close friend Sally Phillips, who plays Bridget’s best friend Shazza, told Page Six about Zellweger turning up to the very first day of filming, back in 2000, with a massive bar of Toblerone chocolate in a bid to put on weight for her role: “She was trying to gain weight for the role … I fell in love with her instantly.
“Renée had just wrapped ‘Cold Mountain’ when we started shooting the second movie, and I had just got married. By the time it came out, she had won an Oscar for her performance and I had become a mother to Olly who has Down syndrome. We’ve both had super privileged lives, nonetheless, we have also had to take a few bumps along the way to this point in movie number four,” Phillips said.
“You love each other more when you’ve been through stuff together,” she added. “Our characters have been through stuff … and in life, we have been through grief and loss and broken hearts …”
Phillips (right) and Zellweger are inseparable on and off screen, with Phillips telling Page Six the Texas native showed up to the first day of filming “Bridget Jones” with a massive bar of chocolate.©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Zellweger won her first Oscar in 2004 for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Cold Mountain.” Here, she’s pictured with the Oscar for Best Actress in 2020 for her portrayal of Judy Garland.Getty Images
Zellweger — who became a star when she captivated Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” in 1996 — has had high-profile romances with actors Jim Carrey and Bradley Cooper, as well as rocker Jack White, and shocked the world when she wed country singer Kenny Chesney just four months after meeting him, in January 2005.
The union lasted just four months, before being annulled, forcing Chesney to deny rumors for years that he was gay.
Zellweger later told The Advocate she often forgets the marriage even happened.
In an effort to try and find her path, she quit Hollywood for six years, from 2010 to 2016, during which time she fell in love with musician Doyle Bramhall II (they split in 2019).
The Texas native wed country singer Kenny Chesney just four months after meeting him, in January 2005. The union lasted just four months, before being annulled. Sipa/Shutterstock
Zellweger, who catapulted onto the A-list scene for her 1996 role in “Jerry Maguire,” has had high-profile romances with actors including Jim Carrey (right).FilmMagic, Inc
“I was sick of the sound of my own voice,” she recently told “Bridget Jones” co-star Hugh Grant, in an interview for British Vogue, of her decision to flee the limelight. “When I was working, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, listen to you. Are you sad again, Renée? Oh, is this your mad voice?’ It was a regurgitation of the same emotional experiences.”
She instead spent her time writing music and studying international law, adding, “I built a house, rescued a pair of older doggies, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend, and spent a lot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs. I got healthy.”
Speculation about her looks has also been painful, Zellweger has admitted.
She also dated Bradley Cooper.Mandatory Credit: L. Dixon/WENN.com/Newscom/MEGA
Much has been made of how the actress’ face has seemingly changed over the years, prompting questions about plastic surgery — and “the implication that I somehow needed to change what was going on because it wasn’t working.
“That makes me sad,” she told New York magazine in 2019.
“This poor woman probably didn’t have as much as people say she had done. I think she had an upper eye lift … and the rest is probably her losing weight,” top Beverly Hills surgeon Dr. Michael Hakimi told Page Six. “This is a 55-year-old woman who looks remarkable.”
Zellweger met ex-boyfriend Jack White on the “Cold Mountain” set.Photo Wire/STAR MAX, Inc./Newscom/MEGA
Zellweger quit Hollywood for six years, from 2010 to 2016, during which time she fell in love with musician Doyle Bramhall II. The pair split in 2019.WireImage
Zellweger first met Anstead, 45, in 2021 while filming an episode of his Discovery+ series, “Celebrity IOU Joyride” — which saw celebrities commission custom cars for deserving people in their lives.
Following the death of her close friend and publicist Nanci Ryder from ALS in 2020, Zellweger gifted Ryder’s carers a restored Oldsmobile 442 and a Ford Bronco through the show.
When Zellweger spoke to Grant for British Vogue, she revealed, “I live in Southern California, near San Diego … Because that’s where my fellow lives, and his little boy,” she replied.
Zellweger first met Ant Anstead, 45, in 2021 while filming an episode of his Discovery+ series, “Celebrity IOU Joyride.”ant_anstead/Instagram
Anstead has a 5-year-old son, Hudson, with his ex-wife, HGTV star Christina Hall.
Last month, Anstead shared a family photo on Instagram with his two older kids, daughter Amelie, 21, and son Archie, 18, who he shares with ex-wife Louise Anstead at the London premiere of “Mad About the Boy.”
“Midweek movie night with the kiddos….” Anstead wrote, “The Movie was absolutely utterly brilliant and the lead actress was mesmerizing and smoking HOT (I have a mega crush on her!) I’ve let the missus know she’s my hall pass….. X.”
“Ant’s an easy guy to get along with, an easy guy to like. He’s a family-oriented person. He’s not really into the spotlight and neither is Renée,” a friend of his told Page Six.ant_anstead/Instagram
Anstead joined Zellweger at the London premiere of “Bridget Jones: Mad About You.” A friend of Anstead told The Post the duo is “pretty low-key.”BACKGRID
“Ant’s an easy guy to get along with, an easy guy to like. He’s a family-oriented person. He’s not really into the spotlight and neither is Renée,” a friend of his told Page Six.
“She moved out to Laguna Beach shortly after they started dating. She drives a minivan and wears an orange baseball cap. She’s kind of just quirky. She’s an interesting bird. They’re pretty low-key. You don’t see them out and about a ton. They’re very private [and] she’s very close with Hudson.”
Phillips couldn’t be happier for her co-star.
“She is so fully and convincingly Bridget we somehow refuse to believe she’s actually a Texan,” Phillips told Page Six. Here, Dolly Wells, Michael Morris, Leo Woodall, Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah Solemani, and Helen Fielding posed together on the red carpet for the film premiere in New York.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
“We talk a lot about the downsides of aging and not enough the good — the joys and depths of decades-long friendships,” said Phillips. “I adore Renee. She is one of the great actresses of cinema and one of the greatest clowns, but there’s no one who is less of a diva.
“She is so fully and convincingly Bridget we somehow refuse to believe she’s actually a Texan. It’s comforting to know that somewhere inside the perfect and polished Renée Zellweger is a slightly frumpy British woman with a weakness for Chardonnay. Maybe inside this slightly frumpy British woman with a weakness for Chardonnay, there is a polished and perfect movie star seeking an outlet.”
