After starring in the 2010 film My Own Love Song with Forest Whitaker, Renee Zellweger decided to take a break from the film industry that wound up lasting nearly six full years. Next week she will be back in theaters starring in Bridget Jones's Baby, but still some fans have wondered why it was that she decided to hit the pause button. It turns out that she was simply interested in pursuing other interests, and didn't want to keep delaying until they were no longer an option.
People recently attended a press conference featuring the cast and filmmakers behind Bridget Jones's Baby, and it was during this event that Renee Zellweger spoke out about her extended trip away from the film world. Providing a much more detailed answer than she did a couple months ago, the actress explained,
I wanted to learn something that had nothing to do with researching a character. I wanted to learn some things beyond the scope of what you are exposed to in filmmaking in Hollywood. And I was craving a little normalcy. I wanted to learn something new and grow as a person and see if I had aptitude for these things that interest me. And if not now, it would be, 'Oh in two more years, or three years, then ten years', and then just, ultimately, you just don't do them. And I didn't want that to happen.
Sadly Renee Zellweger didn't greatly elaborate on those "things" and her definition of normalcy, though it is worth mentioning that in 2013 she co-created and produced the unaired TV pilot Cinnamon Girl. She did explain, however, why it was that she decided it was time to come back to making movies. It turns out that while she did enjoy her time away, there was still a yearning to return to the silver screen, and so she did. Said Zellwegger,
It was a really gradual thing. I just started looking around, reading some things. I was just curious and had missed it. I have a new perspective. I worked on the other side of the camera quite a bit while I was taking a little filming hiatus.
In her return to the big screen, Renee Zellwegger is once again reprising the role of Bridget Jones - a part she first played in Bridget Jones's Diary all the way back in 2001, and hasn't played since 2004's Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The new film, which sees the return of Diary director Sharon Maguire, finds Jones pregnant and unsure about the father of the child: whether it's Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who comes back into her life after a long time away, or an American she has a fling with that happens to be millionaire (Patrick Dempsey). Bridget Jones's Baby will be in theaters on September 16th, and you'll be reading much more about it as we get closer to release!
