Renée Zellweger opened up about her relationship with Ant Anstead and how it’s connected the loss of the actress’s late publicist and close friend, Nanci Ryder. The Thing About Pam star sat down with Harper’s Bazaar and shared just how she met the English television personality.
“It was around Judy,” Zellweger began, referencing the film she won an Oscar for in Feb. 2020. “Late night, and I remember I watched the Property Brothers with Brad Pitt.”
Zellweger is referencing the HGTV show Celebrity IOU. Pitt was featured in an episode in which he gifted his makeup artist and friend, Jean Black, with a home renovation. Zellweger wanted to do something similar to celebrate two nurses who cared for Ryder in the last years of her life. The industry titan passed away that June after a six-year battle with ALS. Zellweger was in luck as she learned there was a spinoff show in the works.
Anstead, a motor specialist, was hosting Celebrity IOU: Joyride and Zellweger was eager to participate. Jerome got a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass, Jerald got a vintage Bronco and the actress got a new relationship. When asked by Harper’s Bazaar if she believes Ryder brought the two together, Zellweger replied, “Yeah, we do joke about that.”
“She’s always doing her best,” the Oscar-winning actress continued. “It made me smile. It made me smile to think on this, yeah, the serendipity of it all.”
Zellweger filmed the episode last year and the two have been going strong, even making their Instagram debut back in September.
“Renée and my relationship is something that’s really private,” Anstead told People. “It’s something I’m not really willing to talk too much about. It’s really early in our relationship and I don’t want to put any pressure on that.”
It hasn’t stopped the host from sharing pictures of his girlfriend on social media, though.
