The 47-year-old actress - who reprises her role as Helen Fielding's iconic character in "Bridget Jones's Baby" - said that a male actor would never receive the same amount of press attention over his weight, reported Digital Spy.
"I put on a few pounds. Bridget is a perfectly normal weight and I've never understood why it matters so much. No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same thing for a role," Zellweger said.
The "Chicago" star also revealed she took a break from acting because she wanted to "grow up a bit" and enjoy "life experiences".
"You cannot be a good storyteller if you don't have life experiences, and you can't relate to people. As a creative person, saying no to that wonderful once-in-a-lifetime project is hard. But I was fatigued and wasn't taking the time I needed to recover between projects, and it caught up with me.
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"I got sick of the sound of my own voice: it was time to go away and grow up a bit."
"Bridget Jones's Baby" hits cinemas on September 16.