• The "Bridget Jones" actor Renée Zellweger took a six-year career break from 2010.
• She said she was "sick" of her own voice.
• The Oscar-winner used the time to do various activities, from studying international law to adopting dogs.

Renée Zellweger took a break from her acting career because she was "sick" of her own voice, she said. She spent that time doing a variety of things, from studying to adopting rescue dogs.

The actor will return to her most famous role in the sequel "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy," which is out on Valentine's Day. The film follows the titular writer-turned-TV producer as she navigates life as a single parent to two children after the death of her husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

Hugh Grant, who plays Daniel Cleaver, Jones' previous love interest, will also reprise his role. To mark the occasion, Grant interviewed Zellweger for Vogue.

When he asked why she took a six-year break from acting in 2010, she replied: "Because I needed to. I was sick of the sound of my own voice. When I was working, I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, listen to you. Are you sad again, Renée? Oh, is this your mad voice?' It was a regurgitation of the same emotional experiences."

In the last decade, more people have started using career breaks to develop their personal lives away from work — some have used the time to travel, others focused on their families.

Gen Z, in particular, has been rewriting the rulebook on career gaps, and many have used the time to upskill in the hope of benefitting their careers in the future.

A LinkedIn survey in 2022 found that 69% of people who took a career break said it "helped them to gain perspective and figure out what they want in life."

For Zellweger, that included studying international law and starting a production company, Big Picture Co.

She also adopted a pair of dogs.

Zellweger said: "I wrote music and studied international law. I built a house, rescued a pair of older doggies, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend, and spent a lot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs. I got healthy."

Her career break ended in 2016 when she returned to the big screen for "Bridget Jones's Baby," which sees Jones fall pregnant.

At the time, Zellweger told Vanity Fair that she returned to the role because it had been 15 years since the original movie, and the team "could take a different and interesting angle on it."