Renée Zellweger bemoans ‘notorious and famous’ becoming the same thing

By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Hollywood actress Renée Zellweger has complained that “notorious and famous” are increasingly being seen as the same thing.

The two-time Oscar winner, 55, known for romantic comedy Jerry Maguire as well as the biopic Judy, is returning to Bridget Jones’s Diary film series for a fourth outing to play the title role of the clumsy and hapless English romantic, slated for a February release.

For a cover of British Vogue, Zellweger was interviewed by her Bridget Jones’s Diary co-star, Hugh Grant, who played sleezy love interest Daniel Cleaver in two of the previous films, and is coming back for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.

The movie, adapted from Helen Fielding’s novel Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, sees Bridget navigate life as a single mother after the death of her husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

When asked by Grant about whether she has been put in the same section as people who want to be a “celebrity rather than an actor”, Zellweger told the magazine: “The line has become increasingly ambiguous.

“And notorious and famous and known are now all the same thing. It used to be that you were known because you had done something that was worth knowing about.”

British actor Grant also said he would decide not to be an actor if he was born again, to which Zellweger replied saying: “I wondered if I would, too, because I’m not sure that the way that it works now, celebrity and all of that stuff, I don’t know that that suits me.”

The actors also discussed whether the relationship between Bridget and Daniel in the first Bridget Jones’s Diary, released in 2001, where he is her boss at a publishing house, would still be appropriate more than two decades later.

Grant said for “instance, our romance, do you think people would think that’s very inappropriate. He’s her boss and he’s exploiting his powerful position. Where do you stand on that?”

Zellweger said: “Well, I’m sure HR would have some stern rules down at the publishing house these days, don’t you think?”

When quizzed if she would report Daniel over his behaviour, she added that she is “really glad I don’t have to have an opinion about this in real life”.

“This sounds complicated,” she added.

Zellweger also said the pressures and prejudices of getting married, which Bridget worries about, was something mothers generations before “couldn’t escape”.

She also said: “You were not valuable as a woman if you were not partnered up and beginning your own family by a certain age. But I don’t think that women my age are imposing that on their daughters.”

Grant did not reprise his role in the last film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, where his character appeared to be killed off, and Bridget became pregnant.

The movie instead saw billionaire US love guru Jack Qwant, played by Patrick Dempsey, compete for Bridget against Mark.

Zellweger, also known for the musical Chicago and Me, Myself & Irene, won her second Academy Award in 2020 for her leading role as the famed singer and actress, Judy Garland.

Her first win was in 2004 for her supporting role as Ruby Thewes in Cold Mountain.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is set to be released on February 14th, and Firth’s character has reportedly been seen filming for it.

For the full interview go to vogue.co.uk/article/renee-zellweger-british-vogue-interview-2025, or pick up the February issue of British Vogue.