Bridget Jones won the hearts of rom-com lovers around the globe, as the hapless, unlucky-in-love, permanently-dieting, accidentally-hilarious woman of the people.
And Renée Zellweger upped the glamour as she was seen flying the flag for her most famous character alongside her co-stars on Monday, as they gathered to unveil the Bridget Jones Scenes In The Square statue in Leicester Square.
The actress, 56, played the Brit in all four movies, which are based on Helen Fielding novels, including 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby and 2025’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
The American star was joined by Helen, 67, as well as two of Bridget’s Mad About The Boy love interests, Chiwetel Ejiofor and toyboy Leo Woodall, both of whom were looking suave in Dunhill.
Bridget’s best friend Shazzer – played by Sally Phillips – was hosting the event, which saw the character immortalised in a statue, showing her hugging her diary and wearing one of her trademark ‘off-sick’ mini skirts.
Renée looked every inch the Hollywood star as she attended the launch in an elegant black ensemble while rubbing shoulders with her co-stars.
Bridget’s love interests from the most recent film comprise Chiwetel, who plays her children’s teacher Scott, and Leo, who stars as toyboy Roxster, were on hand to accompany Renée at the launch, where the trio held hands.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy follows the character and her two children’s journey through grief, following the death of her husband Mark Darcy.
Sally meanwhile was giving a talk at the event, while looking incredibly glamorous in a velvet navy blue suit with a matching pussybow blouse.
Her character is introduced in the first movie with the incredibly memorable speech: ‘F**k ’em. F**k the lot of ’em. Tell ’em they can stick f**king Leevis up their f**king a**es’, before Bridget states: ‘Shazzer. Journalist. Likes to say “f**k.”‘
Sharing a tender moment, Renée planted a kiss on Helen’s kiss as they celebrated the milestone of their work being recognised.
One of the most iconic scenes across the movie is Bridget’s large control knickers, which she wears ahead of her first date with Daniel Cleaver – played by Hugh Grant – leading to a cultural moment of what became known as ‘Bridget Jones knickers’.
Helen, who started the character as part of an anonymous column about life as a single woman before she was approached to pen the novel, referenced the moment, while discussing the release of the statue.
Ahead of the statue’s release, Helen said: ‘It’s got Renée’s head from the first movie and I think she’s wearing the mummy pants because she’s got a very flat stomach!’
Speaking to the BBC, Heelen said it was ‘wonderful to have Bridget ‘who started life so unassumingly in an anonymous column in a newspaper endure for three decades and end up as a statue in Leicester Square’.
She went on: ‘She’s just an emotionally honest, authentic, slightly messy, human, normal person who has a great sense of humour. That’s very British – and to have that celebrated alongside Paddington Bear is a great honour…
‘When Bridget first took off, I didn’t understand why but after a bit I understood it was because she was touching on the gap of how we all feel we are supposed to be and how we really are inside…
‘The side of us we show to our friends and the people who love us just as we are…
‘For the new generation of young women, it is so much harder for them particularly with social media than it was for Bridget…
‘They have so many images of perfection thrown at them and filtered images and they still worry about their shape and on top of that they have the body positivity movement so secretly they are also feeling guilty about worrying about their shape’.
