Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger are both talented and inspiring people who are incredibly appreciated by their fans. Chesney is one of the greatest names in country music; he has sold millions of records and performed on the biggest stages.
Renee Zellweger, meanwhile, broke through with Bridget Jones’ Diary, and has had a very successful career as an actress. But these two high-octane personalities are also known for another, less flattering thing: their incredibly short marriage.
Though we are used to dramatic and blending romances in Hollywood – Renee and Kenny’s short-lived marriage still stands out.
Just four months after the couple tied the knot in picturesque fashion, Zellweger wanted to annul the union. Back then, a lot of people questioned the decision and speculation took off. So why did they divorce so quickly after the wedding?
Finally opened up
It would be several years before anyone got an answer to that question – but in the end, Chesney opened up and revealed what went really went wrong…
To understand what really happened in the marriage between Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney, we must take it from the beginning and take a step back in time.
Before Texas-born Zellweger broke through and became an acclaimed actress, she was working as a cocktail waitress in Austin, Texas.
Kenny Chesney, a Texas native who was raised in East Tennessee, also had a lot of experience at bars in the Lone Star state. Early in his career, he performed at local clubs in Johnson City, and it was there he laid the foundations for his successful career as a singer.
When the press heard about their love affair back in 2005, Kenny and Renee were referred to as an “unlikely pair”. But in fact, the two had a lot in common. They were both from Texas, and above all, they were both riding high in their careers. Renee had tried to make a career as a singer, and Chesney had long thought of Zellweger as his favorite actress. She even inspired him to write his 1999 hit “You Had Me From Hello” after he saw her in ”Jerry Maguire.”
Their first meeting occurred in January 2005, during NBC’s broadcast “Concert of Hope, a tsunami aid telethon. Renée was operating the phones, while Kenny performed on stage – when they saw each other, sparks flew. Zellweger had planned to “pass him a note” during the telethon. Kenny heard about it from his publicist.
“When the broadcast wrapped, [Chesney] went over [to Zellweger] and said, ‘I hear you are trying to pass me a note — don’t let the principal find out,’” a friend of Zellweger’s told People.
Before Renee met Kenny, she had dated several celebrities. Between 1999 and 2000, she was engaged to Jim Carrey, and also had a short romance with musician Jack White, lead singer of The White Stripes. During this period, Zellweger was one of the hottest female actors in Hollywood.
Her first breakthrough came in Jerry Maguire, where she played a struggling single mom who falls in love with a half-crazy sports agent, portrayed by Tom Cruise.
(Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
But it was when she landed the lead role in Bridget Jones, alongside Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, that her career skyrocketed. Her life would never be the same again after the iconic British comedy film.
Despite this, country singer Kenny Chesney was probably more famous than his wife-to-be. With 20 albums and more than 40 top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country, Kenny was and still is, arguably, one of the most successful artis
