Taylor Swift has become well-known/notorious for her slew of big-name boyfriends, but one other celebrity has had her fair share of famous beaus: actress Reneé Zellweger. She's dated at least five prominent musicians, from Kenny Chesney to Jack White, and even married one. Check out the list of her famous musical beaus below:
Sims Ellison
Zellweger was dating rock stars before she even struck it big as an actress in Hollywood. She moved made her move out to California from Texas when she was dating Sims Ellison, the vocalist for the Austin-based band Pariah. The relationship fell apart soon after the couple had moved to Los Angeles...but while things started looking up for Zellweger, things spiraled out of control for Ellison. She made her film debut as an uncredited character in the film Dazed and Confused during 1993, and Pariah released its debut album To Kill A Mockingbird as well. The band was a member of the "post-grunge" movement, often cast off as groups attempting to make less satisfying rock music while dressing like their successful Seattle counterparts...and the album was reviewed in a similar tone. Ellison would fall into a depression and eventually take his own life, long after he had ceased dating Zellweger.
Jack White
It's always been interesting to your correspondent how often actors and actresses end up dating their onscreen romantic interests. Such was the case when Zellweger and then-White Stripes guitarist Jack White entered their relationship. The actress obviously cast a powerful spell on both the guitarist and critics: Her role as Ruby Thewes during the film won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and it also made her attractive to costar White, who made a rare film appearance as Georgia, a deserter from the Confederate army. This relationship got more attention than the majority of her romantic interests, despite it being relatively short in nature. We think the idea of the alt-rock god dating an A-list actress just seemed shocking at the time.
Damien Rice
Jack White is now one of the most prominent figures in rock music, between his Third Man Records and signing on with TIDAL, but back in 2004 we figure he was still getting used to the limelight. Therefore the most popular theory about why he and Zellweger spilt was because he didn't like the attention on himself or his personal life. That same theory comes into play when discussing her relationship with Irish folk-rocker Damien Rice. Although he has much less of a following across the pond, he was primed for tabloid coverage in the UK, especially when it was noticed that Zellweger was showing up at nearly every one of his shows (this may have been around the time she was in the nation shooting Miss Potter). Rice, who was himself notorious for sometimes tense live stage interactions, might not have dealt so well with the new attention either while the pair was together.
Kenny Chesney
For all of her famous boyfriends, Zellweger has only been married once, and even that was just a flash in the night. On May 9 of 2005 (ten years ago this week), the pair surprised the world by holding a beach wedding (as only Chesney could) in St. Johns. Perhaps less surprisingly, the wedding was annulled less than four months later. One of the more serious aspects of the event was Zellweger citing "fraud" as her reason for pulling out. What happened? No one knows for sure. Eventually the couple released a mutual statement to explain/not really explain what was going on: "The miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment. Reneé and Kenny value and respect each other and are saddened that their different objectives prevent the success of this marriage." Objectives? You mean like, love and stuff? We may never know.
Doyle Bramhall II
Zellweger has spent time with many a man who knows his way around six strings...and it seems after a bit of genre sampling that she's settled on blues rockers. She dated White already, and now she's all about Doyle Bramhall II, a lesser known (outside of the music industry) axe-slinger. The story behind this couple is a cute one as well, as she and he first made acquaintances nearly 25 years ago while living in Austin, TX. There was a rumor circulating in the tabloids during 2014 that the pair would wed at a secret ceremony in the capital of Texas on New Year's Eve but it doesn't seem like that's come to fruition yet. Bramhall will get some more attention when this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony airs live this month. He paid tribute to fellow Texas bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan at the ceremony.
