Actor Renee Zellweger walked away from Hollywood six years ago in what many would call an act of career suicide. With nonchalance and a "don't cry for me" honesty, Zellweger tells British Vogue's July readers that "the past few years have been fun".

Patrick Demarchelier flashes Renee Zellweger, styled by Verity Parker.

The actress, who returns to the big screen with her fan-loved character in September's 'Bridget Jones's Baby', says she happily fell off the grid: "I travelled in Asia with a friend, taking a train through Vietnam and walking across the border to Cambodia."

The 47-year-old actor also spent time nesting at home in LA, while cementing her relationship with her musician boyfriend of four years, Doyle Bramhall II. Zellweger has known Bramhall "since I was young and living in Austin" where the actress went to university. This history gives their relationship a shared past, an attribute that the actor values deeply. "There is a familiarity between us, that sense you have when you're with someone and you know you are home."

The Great Initiative

A memorable experience from Zellweger's hiatus was her five-day 2011 trip to Liberia, a journey to support 'The Great Initiative', a gender-equality charity in London co-founded by her friend Mariella Frostrup. The organization is as focused on working with young men to change gender stereotypes and attitudes about women -- as it is women themselves. To achieve that goal, The Great Initiative has launched 'Great Men' and is actively looking for young men of colour to train in workshops.

Zellweger's trip to Liberia focused on creating The Liberia Women Media Action Committee (LIWOMAC), the first and only radio station dedicating to promoting women's issues in Liberia 12 hours a day. "In a country torn by the civil war, this scheme provides women with a much needed place to discuss their experiences and concerns; Liberia Women Democracy Radio is a unique forum for them to do so in safety and solidarity."

In 2014 Mariella Fostrup, who is also a Save the Children's Gender Ambassador, returned to Monrovia, Liberia's capital. Becaue AOC has written previously about Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, we will continue the Zelliweger Liberia experience and life in Liberia's war-torn country in a part 2 of this story.