She was the hapless heroine who was constantly told she was overweight despite being no more than a size 12.
Bridget Jones, the fictional character who documented her life as a singleton in her diaries was either being put down, or being criticised for her so-called curves.
But now, as the three movies about her are being shown as part of the festive television schedule, Generation Z are watching – and they are furious at how Bridget – who was played by American actress Renee Zellweger – has been portrayed, given she is not actually overweight.
The trilogy of films, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby are littered with jibes about her figure, which taps in to the 90s trend for skinny being considered fashionable but which, they say, is unfair.
In one line from the script, Bridget’s on/off boyfriend Daniel Cleaver’s new girlfriend says of her: ‘I thought you said she was thin’ during a scene in his bathroom.
Bridget Jones (pictured), the fictional character who documented her life as a singleton in her diaries was either being put down, or being criticised for her so-called curves
![But now, as the three movies about her are being shown as part of the festive television schedule, Generation Z are watching - and they are furious at how Bridget - who was played by American actress Renee Zellweger (pictured playing Bridget) - has been portrayed, given she is not actually overweight](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/18/79039977-12871979-image-a-33_1702751297423.jpg)
But now, as the three movies about her are being shown as part of the festive television schedule, Generation Z are watching – and they are furious at how Bridget – who was played by American actress Renee Zellweger (pictured playing Bridget) – has been portrayed, given she is not actually overweight
![In another scene in the first movie, from 2001, her friend asks her: 'Just as you are? Not thinner? Not cleverer?' when she tells her that her barrister boyfriend Mark Darcy, portrayed by Colin Firth (pictured playing Mark), said he likes her just as she is](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/18/79039979-12871979-image-a-32_1702751280584.jpg)
In another scene in the first movie, from 2001, her friend asks her: ‘Just as you are? Not thinner? Not cleverer?’ when she tells her that her barrister boyfriend Mark Darcy, portrayed by Colin Firth (pictured playing Mark), said he likes her just as she is
In another scene in the first movie, from 2001, her friend asks her: ‘Just as you are? Not thinner? Not cleverer?’ when she tells her that her barrister boyfriend Mark Darcy, portrayed by Colin Firth, said he likes her just as she is.
And in the third movie from the comparatively recent 2016, a friend of Bridget’s mother Pamela congratulates her on her surprise pregnancy, saying: ‘Wonderful, we thought you’d just got all fat again.’
While Bridget, who was created by writer Helen Fielding in the late 90s, was constantly told she was fat by others, she was also self-deprecating about her size. She also kept a log of her weight in her famous diary.
After hearing Mark Darcy insulting her to his mother in the second movie, she says of herself: ‘And that was it. Right there. Right there that was the moment.
‘I suddenly realised that unless something changed soon, I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine and I’d finally die fat and alone and be found three weeks later eaten by Alsatians or I was about to turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.’
![While Bridget, who was created by writer Helen Fielding in the late 90s, was constantly told she was fat by others, she was also self-deprecating about her size. She also kept a log of her weight in her famous diary](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/18/60593755-12871979-Success_The_films_launched_in_2001_and_based_on_the_best_selling-a-36_1702751564815.jpg)
While Bridget, who was created by writer Helen Fielding in the late 90s, was constantly told she was fat by others, she was also self-deprecating about her size. She also kept a log of her weight in her famous diary
![Pictured is Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones in the movie from 2011](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/18/74538383-12871979-Exciting_Ren_e_Zellweger_54_was_said_to_be_returning_to_her_fame-a-35_1702751562330.jpg)
Pictured is Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones in the movie from 2011
And in her final line in the film, Bridget says of herself: ‘So as you can see, I’ve found my happy ending at last. And I truly believe that happiness is possible. Even when you’re 33 and have a bottom the size of two bowling balls.’
One millennial took to social media to write: ’90’s diet culture meant that we are told to think that Bridget was fat,’ while another wrote: ‘Toxicity making us think that Bridget Jones was fat.
‘When she was perfectly average. No wonder 40 something year olds are obsessed with their weight.’
Another post which features a picture of Bridget when she attends a party dressed in a bunny costume says: ‘And the fact we were all brainwashed to think Bridget was fat.’
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