Renée Zellweger has opened up about the emotional toll that making the new Bridget Jones film took on her.

The Oscar winner is due to reprise her acclaimed performance as Bridget in the upcoming fourth movie, Mad About The Boy, which is due to hit UK cinemas in February 2025.

In the film, we’re re-introduced to Bridget at a very different stage of her life, where she’s raising her children as a single mum, following the death of Mark Darcy.

Speaking to Empire, the Chicago star admitted that co-star Colin Firth’s absence was felt on set, as was his character’s.

Renée explained: “It’s so peculiar because of the connection to this character I’ve come to love. I love him. I love this person that Colin plays when we get together again. And I was heartbroken.

“It was such a peculiar thing to be heartbroken that a fictional character is gone from your life, [but I’ve] gotten to know him since 2000. And of course, Colin, he’s an integral part of that experience, and to not share it with him… I won’t lie. I shed some tears.”

She added: “It’s just, I guess, like life. Part of the magic just disappears.”

And Renée isn’t the only member of the cast who was moved to tears by the new film.

Hugh Grant – returning for his third outing as Daniel Cleaver in Mad About The Boy – previously shared that he cried the first time he read the “really moving script”.

The Bafta winner was also quick to assure Bridget Jones fans that the next film is also “extremely funny”, as well as being “really moving”.

Read Renée Zellweger’s full interview in Empire’s January 2025 issue.