Renee Zellweger was honored at the Oscars over the weekend with the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Judy. Rather than celebrating the actress for her high achievements, though, the supermarket tabloid world has chosen to spend the last few months inventing rumors about her love life. Here’s a selection of some of the more absurd Zellweger dating rumors that Gossip Cop has recently busted.
Last September, NW claimed Zellweger was crushing on Brad Pitt. The tabloid quoted a suspicious “source” who said the actress had been hoping they would both be nominated for Oscars so that she could mingle with him at parties. Ever the target for ridiculous gossip, Pitt was said to return the feelings. Gossip Cop reached out to Zellweger’s spokesperson, who dismissed the story’s claims with a derisive “who comes up with this [expletive?]”
A few months later, Woman’s Day spread the rumor that Zellweger had been helping her Bridget Jones co-star Colin Firth get through his recent divorce, and that the two were going on “secret dates” together as they were both newly single. This, too, was clearly untrue. Firth and Zellweger haven’t even been seen together since their last project, Bridget Jones’ Baby. A source also assured Gossip Cop off the record that the rumor was totally baseless. The magazine was clearly just capitalizing on the timing of Firth’s divorce and Zellweger’s Oscar hype.
Last month, the same magazine took things a step further by claiming not only was Zellweger developing romance with Firth, but also one with her Jerry Maguire co-star Tom Cruise. Zellweger was supposedly “torn” between the two men as she had been growing closer to Cruise after they had allegedly been discussing adopting a child together. Once again, Zellweger’s rep laughed off this story when we reached out. It’s complete nonsense. As usual, Woman’s Day is getting on-screen romances confused with real-life ones.
NW, meanwhile, appears to still be on the Brad Pitt train. In early February, the magazine put Zellweger in a very different love triangle, this time with Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Aniston was said to be “furious” with Zellweger for allegedly flirting with Pitt at this year’s SAG Awards. Gossip Cop spoke to a rep for Aniston, who told us the rumor was “beyond ridiculous.” Zellweger wasn’t seen anywhere near Pitt at the SAG Awards, while Aniston and Pitt aren’t back together, despite every single tabloid claiming otherwise.
Finally, just last week, the National Enquirer came in with its own, particularly nasty version of events. That tabloid suggested that the reason Zellweger is single is that she’s too “clingy, needy, and whiny” to hold down a man. Gossip Cop spoke with Zellweger’s spokesperson, who again shut down that rumor and added, “They sure can’t stand to see a successful and talented woman being celebrated for her achievements, can they?”