Renee Zellweger Shocked by US/UK Culture  1/6/07

Renee Zellweger was stunned when she first visited Britain, because she always presumed it was like the US.

Although the two nations share the English language, the Texan star insists culturally they were nothing alike when she first arrived.

She says, "I didn't realize how different the culture was until I went there for the first time to do Bridget Jones. We don't speak the same language at all. We use words in a different way and culturally the English are very different.

"I always felt very brash, forthright and rude when I was there. My friends might call me honest, but in England I felt completely inappropriate and gross... just grotesque a lot of the time. A loud-mouthed Texas girl."

Now Zellweger has grown to love England, she's disappointed to see it become more Americanized.

She adds, "I don't think of it in terms of being a foreign country any more.

It's kind of disappointing to see an American influence in places that weren't there when I first visited."