`Bridget' star demonstrates weight of her convictions

By Beth Teitell
Thursday, August 14, 2003

Like many Americans, I'm disgusted with our society's obsession with celebrity, and yet I'd do anything to be a famous Hollywood actor.

Or so I thought. But an article in People magazine threw me for a loop. Could it be I'm not as desperate for fame as I thought? (I sure hope not.)

``Renee Zellweger packs on the pounds for the new `Bridget Jones,' '' the cover line in this week's issue read.

Would I be equally willing to suffer for my art, I wondered?

More interested in this story than I'd been in any news since Time reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger's Brentwood home has five bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, I flipped inside to learn that Zellweger is trying to gain 20 pounds before ``Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'' starts shooting this fall.

My first thought was: What's taking her so long? I could pull that off in a weekend. And my second was: If I were Zellweger, I'd make sure I had an ironclad contract providing for a lifetime of free lipo if the movie isn't made.

As you'll recall, Zellweger not only earned an Oscar nomination for the first ``Bridget Jones'' film, she managed to lose the weight, and fairly quickly, too.

Even so, if I were her I'd be afraid to let myself go like that. I'd worry that once I'd tasted life on 4,000 calories a day - with no obligation to exercise - there'd be no going back. For a while I'd be able to conceal my gain with flattering designer clothes bought with my hard-earned millions, but eventually there'd be no doubt that I'd ballooned, and I'd have to play increasingly heavy characters until finally, toward the end of my career, I'd be a shoo-in for the Shelley Winters story.

Needless to say, the weight gain subject came up at last night's meeting of my magazine club - we've given up on trying to read books - even though our agenda called for us to discuss the People magazine cover story on Bennifer, ``Is the Wedding Still On?''

Passing around the Snickers bars I'd unwrapped for the evening, I kicked things off with a question. ``Would you gain weight for work?'' I asked the group.

One of my friends, a saleswoman in the high-tech field, bit into a slice of pizza, and pointed out that while she wouldn't gain weight for her job, she had gained weight at her job. ``Does that count?''

``What would you gain weight for?'' I asked. ``What about world peace?''

The circle fell silent. Finally, one woman, a publicist, spoke up. ``How much would I have to gain?'' she asked. ``Would I have to keep it on?''

I nodded. ``Oh my God,'' she said, as the limits of her own beneficence were made clear.

Selfish? Perhaps. But the concept did give her an idea. ``Next time I gain weight,'' she decided, ``I'm going to claim I'm doing it for a good cause.''