Interview with Renee Zellweger

Spiritual Life

In "New in Town," faith plays a pretty big role in the townspeople's lives. Can you tell me a bit about your own spiritual life growing up? What about your spiritual life now?

My parents are European. My dad, I believe, was raised Church of England and my mom was Lutheran, and they decided to compromise and we went to an Episcopalian church growing up. I don't belong to a church in New York City—and I'm not here very often—but there's a church that I go to when I go up to Connecticut that's in my town. Mostly I would say that my belief system is maybe not completely conventional, but perhaps an amalgamation of things that I've learned and experienced in my life—different things that I've chosen to keep with me, ideas, things that have inspired me, things that give me strength.

Is the church you go to in Connecticut an Episcopal church?

Yes. My sister-in-law who just moved up there—my brother and sister-in-law—they go to a Baptist church up there, and she speaks really highly of it and is really excited about it. It's funny, because I guess when you're new to a town there's a list of things that once you've established [them] it feels like home and this one was a big one for her. She'd been searching for a couple of months and she found this place. And she says she feels like she's been going there all her life. She's met the preacher of the church and his wife and everybody and she felt an instant bond with the community.