Who knew so many celebs wanted to become lawyers?!
In one of the more surprising stories of this week, Renée Zellweger has revealed that she went to school to study law while taking a break from acting a few years ago! Whaaat?
While promoting her new NBC series The Thing About Pam, Renée appeared on the Today show Monday morning to chat with Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. During the conversation, she let slip that she attended law classes while taking a break from the industry from 2010 to 2016.
Related: Renée Zellweger & Ant Anstead Are SOULMATES Already?!
Opening up about her reason to step away from the spotlight, the 52-year-old recalled:
“I needed to step away and kind of grow as a person and learn some things that were not related to work.”
Learning new things is part of the reason she loves her profession, she added:
“I mean, that’s one of my favorite things about the work, is that you have an opportunity to learn things that you wouldn’t otherwise have occasion to explore. Went to school and just, you know, took some time out and decided I wanted to maybe participate in a different way.”
So cool! Clarifying what her return to school was like, Zellweger continued:
“I snuck into UCLA for a little while and did some public policy. International law. Interested in politics.”
Hoda and Savannah were SHOCKED to learn of this, leading Kotb to probe:
“Is this toward an end goal, or just something you wanted to do in the interim?”
Sounds like anything is possible at this point, the Bridget Jones’s Diary alum shared:
“I’m not sure. But it’s one of my favorite things. I’ll bore you to death at a dinner party, I really will. Just don’t get me started. It’s true — ask any of my friends!”
Ch-ch-check out Renée’s Today interview (below)!
Following in Kim Kardashian’s footsteps!
As Perezcious readers know, Kim has been in law school for the last few years, finally passing her baby bar exam last year! Seems like there might be an influx of A-listers hitting the political scene soon — thank goodness these ones are actually putting in the time to study before taking charge unlike you know who! Just saying!!
Related: Kanye West Has THOUGHTS On ‘Wife’ Kim Kardashian’s Law Career Dreams
If you didn’t know, Ant Anstead’s girlfriend stepped back from the film industry after realizing that she wasn’t prioritizing herself. In 2019, she told New York Magazine:
“I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was the last thing on my list of priorities.”
She started working with a therapist at that time who encouraged her to build a private life outside of the spotlight, she explained:
“He recognized that I spent 99 percent of my life as the public persona and just a microscopic crumb of a fraction in my real life. I needed to not have something to do all the time, to not know what I’m going to be doing for the next two years in advance. I wanted to allow for some accidents. There had to be some quiet for the ideas to slip in.”
Just like being a student again, there’s apparently a lot that happened that fans will never know about! She teased:
“I had a good five-year period when I was joyful and in a new chapter that no one was even aware of. Six years. It was important, that time. It’s a quieter life, and I love it.”
Great for her! Thoughts on Renée’s interest in law and politics?
[Image via The Tonight Show/YouTube & Kim Kardashian/Instagram]