Kate Garraway claims she was the REAL inspiration for Bridget Jones as Renee Zellweger watched tapes of her presenting GMTV to prepare for the role
The Good Morning Britain presenter helped the Oscar-winner prepare for her iconic role
KATE Garraway has claimed she was the inspiration for Renee Zellweger as she prepared to play Bridget Jones.
The Oscar-winning actress has taken on the role of Bridget on three occasions since 2001 and had to learn how the world of TV journalism worked for the part.
And during an interview with , Kate revealed the star watched footage of her presenting GMTV to get into character.
She said: "On the very first Bridget Jones film, she and the producers asked for tapes of GMTV over the summer that I happened to be presenting.
"And then when I interviewed her, Renee said, 'Oh my God, you're the real Bridget Jones'.
"I hadn't seen the movie at this point."
In the first film, Renee famously wore big knickers for her date with Hugh Grant's character Daniel.
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And Kate's life continues to have a weird synergy with the franchise, as her new book is called The Joy of Big Knickers.
But she insists she wasn't the inspiration for that part of the movie.
Renee worked with Kate again in preparation for last year's movie, the third instalment of the franchise, Bridget Jones' Baby.
During an interview with Kate for Good Morning Britain to promote the film, Renee revealed she wanted to return to the place where she had carried out her "work experience".
She said: "Bridget Jones is now a news producer so we had to learn what her job is all about.
"Everybody in the gallery was very generous to let us come in amongst the controlled chaos and I learned so much.
"I had no idea, the potential for disaster, extraordinary disaster at any moment!"