31 Fascinating Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Renée Zellweger

When we think of Renée Zellweger, the first thing that fans generally remember is the iconic line – “You had me at Hello.” But, there is so much more to the actress that fans probably don’t know. Being a small town girl, her accomplishments in the Hollywood world, is really mesmerizing. Here are a few important things about her that you might have missed.

1. She is the first woman and the second actor in the world, after Daniel Day-Lewis to win three individual SAG awards, with her SAG Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Judy.”
2. Zellweger is the first actress to win Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Critics’ Choice Awards.
3. In preparation for her titular role in “Judy,” Zellweger trained for a whole year with vocal coach Eric Vetro, and spent four months rehearsing with Musical Director Matt Dunkley, to master her vocals.
4. She once claimed in an interview that the day she was cast in “Jerry Maguire,” she went to an ATM, but did not have enough balance to make a withdrawal.
5. She has been an active member of the 2005 HIV prevention campaign of the Swiss federal health department. She even collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger in 2011, to raise money and awareness for Breast Health Institute, through the sales of speacially designed handbags.
6. Casting Zellweger in the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” as Bridget Jones, reportedly caused so much controversy, as many of the book’s fans were outraged with the fact that an American actress was to play the role of very British Bridget.
7. However, her performance that received near-unanimous praise and an Academy Award nomination, quickly silenced all the controversy.
8. During the filming of “Chicago,” there was reportedly a very long battle between her agents and Catherine Zeta-Jones agents, about the top billing on the movie poster.
9. Finally, the actresses decided on “diagonal billing,” as depending on which way the audience view it, both Zellweger and Zeta-Jones receive top billing.
10. She started dating Jim Carrey, while filming the movie “Me, Myself and Irene.” the duo were engaged from 1999 to 2000, before they called off the engagement.
11. Her nose’s tip was ever so slightly extended prosthetically by Make-up Designer Jeremy Woodhead, to better match Judy Garland’s profile, for her character in “Judy.” She also was fitted with Dark gray contact lenses, and a cropped walnut-brown wig.
12. Her famous line of “You had me at Hello” is said to have been the inspiration behind Kenny Chesney’s 1999 single with the similar name “You Had Me From Hello.”
13. She met singer Chesney in the early 2000s, and married him in May 2005. However, the relationship lasted for only a few months, before the couple obtained annulment before the end of 2005.
14. In preparation for her famous role of Bridget Jones in the 2001 movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” she is said to have gained 25 pounds.
15. The third movie “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” is the only movie in the series, for which she hasn’t gained any weight. However, some media outlets, considering the honest body image as the character’s main appeal, claimed that she had betrayed the iconic character.
16. While reading the screenplay of “Jerry Maguire,” she thought the now iconic line of “You had me at Hello,” to be a typo, as it made no sense at all to her.
17. During the filming of “Cold Mountain,” she claims to have got through the long shoot only through consumption of Starbucks coffee.
18. It was reported that she had bought in pounds of coffee beans from abroad and make lattes for her driver, her assistant and herself, every morning, in her own cabin kitchen.
19. While filming the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” she is said to have smoked herbal cigarettes rather than tobacco.
20. Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, made it very clear before the release of “Judy,” that she personally did not approve the project of “Judy,” and that has never met Zellweger before. She added that she was not happy with the project.
21. For her role as Dorothy Boyd in “Jerry Maguire” she reportedly auditioned three times. Director Cameron Crowe personally called her, when she was attending the Sundance Film Festival, and thanked her for her time. At the end of the call, he had asked her “Well, do you want the job?”
22. She was in a relationship with Doyle Bramhall II, a musician and producer from the year 2012. However, the relationship ended after a long period of seven years, with the duo announcing their separation in 2019.
23. For a month, she worked at a British publishing company, adopting an alias, in preparation for her role as Bridget Jones in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Even for the “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” she worked at ITV to prepare for the return.
24. She had a posh accent and was totally unrecognizable by any one. She reportedly had a picture of Jim Carrey, her then boyfriend, on her desk. Her co-workers found it to be odd, but did not mention it to her, for the fear of embarrassing her.
25. Despite being a leading actress herself, she was nervous to meet Tom Cruise for the first time. She claimed that “she went inside and managed not to throw up.” In one of her auditions, she even had to kiss Cruise.
26. She told Newsday that she had to say her famous line of “You had me at Hello” in a few different ways. She always thought if “there is a better way to say it” and that if “she is not getting it.”
27. She met Bradley Cooper on the sets of “Case 39,” and was romantically involved in a relationship with him for two years from 2009. The duo announced their separation in 2011.
28. In an effort to make her English accent for the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary” seems more natural, she is said to have retained her accent even when not shooting.
29. Her co-star Hugh Grant claimed that he did not hear her speak in her natural tone, until the wrap party. When he heard her speak in her real tone, he felt it to be a very strange voice.
30. For the 2005 movie “Cinderella Man,” director Russell Crowe reportedly approached her in the early 1998 to play the role of Mae. And her answer had always been “yes” in all the years he was trying to get the movie made.
31. Renée Zellweger Net Worth: $60 Million