Renee Zellweger reveals she went unrecognised during Bridget Jones work experience at a publishing house thanks to her ‘chubby cheeks’ as she spills the hit films’ secrets with co-star Hugh Grant for Vogue

Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant reunite to reveal the secrets of Bridget Jones and their 25-year friendship Fashion.

Bridget Jones lead Renee is interviewed by her co-star and friend for the new issue, celebrating the upcoming release of the latest installment in the hit film franchise: Mad About The Boy.

And at one point during the naughty chat, the actress shocks Hugh when she reveals how she went unrecognized during a secret work experience for the first Bridget film.

As Hugh notes, there was a lot of ‘hullabaloo’ in the early 1990s when American Renee was cast as Helen Fielding’s British heroine, with Renee admitting that, unlike Hugh, she doesn’t Google herself, revealing that she only became aware of the furore when she started preparing for the film.

To land a role as a publicity assistant at a London publishing house, Renee worked secretly for “a month or two” at Picador, a major British publishing house.

“I was ‘Bridget Cavendish’ because Jonathan Cavendish, the producer of the film, was very good friends with the gentleman who was editor of Picador.” she explained to Hugh.

At one point in the interview, the actress shocks Hugh when she reveals how she went unrecognized during her work experience for the first Bridget film at a publishing house (pictured in the first film in 2001).

And she soon found it difficult to avoid the publicity surrounding her casting: “Part of my job was to take the newspaper cuttings from the daily newspapers and file them under Helen Fielding’s file, as they represented her,” she revealed .

“And I started clipping these articles about this ‘c**p American actor’ who was going to play Bridget Jones.”

A laughing Hugh exclaimed, “You were cutting your own clippings!” before going on to ask, “Was it somehow natural at Picador or did they just think, ‘There’s the famous American Renée Zellweger walking around our office’?”

Renee insisted that “nobody knew” despite her Hollywood status, as she mused to memaybe I was out of context or maybe it was more chubby cheeks. It was strange.’

‘One of the ladies working in the office was reading Anna Quindlen’s novel One True Thing and they made it into a film [that I starred in]so I’m on the cover of the book.’

“And she’s there telling me that I finished it on the subway on the way to work and how great it was.”

Renee and Hugh return for a fourth time as Bridget and Daniel Cleaver in the upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

In the most recent film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby, Bridget was shocked to discover she was pregnant. It ended with her marrying Mark, the high-flying lawyer she had occasionally had feelings for throughout the three films, and revealing that he was the father of her baby.

Renee is interviewed by her co-star and friend for the new issue, celebrating the upcoming release of the latest installment in the hit film franchise – Mad About The Boy

To get into her role as a publicity assistant at a London publishing house, Renee worked secretly for “a month or two” at Picador, a major British publishing house.

Renee insisted that “nobody knew” despite her Hollywood status, musing: “Maybe I was out of context or maybe it was more chubby cheeks.” It was strange’

Renee and Hugh return for a fourth time as Bridget and Daniel Cleaver in the upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

However, in Mad About The Boy, Mark later tragically dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and the book follows her as she battles motherhood alone.

She also quits her job in television to cover the school run, with comedy scenes expected as she struggles to keep up with the Yummy Mummies.

Bridget will also find herself in the middle of a three-way battle for her affections, between boytoy Roxster [Leo]gym teacher Mr. Wallaker [Chiwetel] and a returning Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant].

The first film, Bridget Jones’s Diary, was released in 2001 and grossed £222 million at the box office – more than ten times what it cost to produce.

See the full article in the February issue of British Vogue, available via digital download and on newsstands from Tuesday 21 January.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will be released on Peacock in the US on February 13, 2025 and in cinemas in the UK on February 14.