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Many Renée Zellweger fans might have forgotten that the Bridget Jones star was married for a hot minute.
In Zellweger's case, the expression "hot minute" translates to 255 days. That's how long her 2005 marriage to country singer Kenny Chesney lasted before she filed for annulment, citing "fraud" as the reason.
To some, "fraud" sounded like code for Chesney being gay. Speculations about Chesney's sexuality started when the news broke, prompting the Oscar-winning actress to defend her ex and the LGBTQ+ community.
Renée Zellweger Filed To Annul Her Marriage To Kenny Chesney
The couple stayed together as husband and wife for less than a year before Zellweger filed to void the marriage.
After the annulment became public, Zellweger felt the need to release a statement to explain what "fraud" meant exactly in order to stop people gossiping about Chesney.
In her statement, the actress wanted to "clarify that the term 'fraud' as listed in the documentation is simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny's character."
She added: "I would personally be very grateful for your support in refraining from drawing derogatory, hurtful, sensationalized or untrue conclusions and greatly appreciate your understanding that we hope to experience this transition as privately as possible."
The couple also released a joint statement through their representatives to shed some light about the annulment, writing: "the miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment. Renée and Kenny value and respect each other and are saddened that their different objectives prevent the success of this marriage."
What Renée Zellweger Said About Chesney's Sexuality
Years later, Zellweger returned on the issue in an interview with The Advocate at a time when she was promoting her film Judy, playing actress, singer, and LGBTQ+ icon Judy Garland.
Asked about how she felt when people assumed Chesney was gay when she filed to annul the marriage, she replied: "That made me sad."
"It made me sad that somehow people were using that as a way to be cruel and calling someone gay as a pejorative, which has fateful consequences. Of course, there's the bigger-picture problem of why anyone had to make up a story at all."
She refused to dwell on that private incident from years prior, saying: "Well, I'd said all I needed to say on that subject."
"I'm an old-fashioned gal who doesn't feel it's appropriate to hang out your laundry on the lawn. I feel you devalue yourself as a human being when you share very personal things with a bajillion strangers who are making fun of you. I just don't see that there's any dignity in that.
"But sometimes it is difficult to just let something be what it is, especially when it's unnecessary ugliness. Once you've said your piece, shouldn't that be enough? And why is the ugliness that's perpetuated in the media so attractive to people?"
Kenny Chesney Finally Explained What Happened In His Marriage To Renée Zellweger
For his part, Chesney got defensive when addressing the rumor in an interview with Playboy.
"I think people need to live their lives the way they want to, but I'm pretty confident in the fact that I love girls. I've got a long line of girls who could testify that I am not gay," he said in 2009.
"In order for us to get an annulment, the legal papers could claim either physical abuse, which wasn't true, or three or four other things that also weren't true. The best thing we could put in there was fraud. So I said, 'All right, do it. Whatever,'" he added, explaining why the former couple settled on "fraud" as the reason to void their union.
The following year, the musician opened up to Oprah Winfrey about the real reason why the marriage didn't last very long and why Zellweger ultimately sought the annulment.
"I look at my life as a box. … So everything that I put in — learn how to play guitar, put that in the box. The friends I made. I put that in the box, and my career grew. That box built grew into this wonderful house… And you protect everything and all the relationships and all the people that helped you build that house," he started out, adding that marriage wasn't exactly part of the plan for him.
"It was out of the box," he said, adding: "[Renée's] a sweet soul, no doubt about it, but I just wasn't ready…. This is the first time I've actually talked about it, but that's what happened."
How Did Renée Zellweger And Kenny Chesney Meet?
The relationship between the actress and the singer took almost everyone by surprise. They met in January 2005 at NBC's 'Concert of Hope' tsunami aid telethon. Zellweger had hoped to meet him and pass him a note during the event. With a little help from their respective publicists, Renée's intentions were made clear.
"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 the actress told People.
Apparently, the crush was mutual as Chesney had indicated Zellweger as one of the three sexiest people on earth in 2002.
"Here's a country girl who's still down to earth. You never see her coming, then—wham!—there she is. And that makes her really, really sexy," he said in an interview with The Tennessean. "Plus she seems like the kind of girl who could fit in and be at home anywhere."
Despite going at it with the best, most adorable of intentions, it just wasn't meant to be for them.
After her relationship with Chesney, Zellweger dated Bradley Cooper and musician Doyle Bramhall II. She's currently in a relationship with British presenter Ant Anstead. As for Chesney, the country singer has been in a relationship with Mary Nolan since 2012.