Renee Zellweger took a career break because her life experiences felt ''pretend'' and her film career was taking up too much of her time.
The 47-year-old actress has made a return to acting after six years to reprise her lead role in Bridget Jone's Baby, and the star admits taking time out was one of the best decisions she ever made.
'' I wasn't living very healthy ... I wasn't working all the time, I was only working.
''It's quite a commitment - there are many phases to making a film, you don't just make it and then you're done.
''So if you do a couple or a few a year, the cycle starts to fold in on itself and there's no time for real life," she told Empire.
Zellweger reveals her desire to take a break came at an age when she wanted to explore other career options and life experiences.
''I was at an age where I wanted to grow and not just as a consequence of research I might be doing for a character. I wanted to make some choices about what other kind of work I might do in that respect.
''It required that I would take some time to do it. It became a priority for me.
''You can't be successful, creatively, if you're not drawing from life experience. And my life experiences were pretend," she added.
The Texan-born actress won wide acclaim in 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary and followed that success with another Best Actress Oscar nomination for Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Ruby Thewes in 2003's Cold Mountain.
She reprised her title role in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), which earned her fifth Golden Globe Award nomination.
She then starred in Cinderella Man, where her part was applauded by critics, and later played author Beatrix Potter in the biopic Miss Potter, which earned the actress her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination.
Bridget Jones's Baby hits cinemas nationwide on September 16.
