Zellweger Voids Chesney

Paperwork finalizing end of duo's blink-and-you-missed-it marriage filed in court; they're certified "single persons" again

By Joal Ryan Dec 21, 2005 10:35 PMTags

Renée Zellweger and Kenny Chesney are once again "single persons."

Paperwork finalizing and formalizing the end of the duo's blink-and-you-missed-it marriage was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.

"The judgment of nullity is entered," the documents read, per TV's Extra. "The parties are declared to be single persons."

Zellweger, 36, and Chesney, 37, met in January, wed in May, and split in September when the Oscar-winning actress filed for an annulment from her country superstar spouse.

If, given its brevity, it seems as if the Zellweger-Chesney union never existed, then the approval of the annulment guarantees that it never did exist. As far as the law is concerned, it was all just a bad Pam Ewing dream.

The couple's uncoupling raised eyebrows not just for its speed--it came a little more than four months after their Virgin Islands ceremony--but for its declaration of "fraud."

In seeking to null and void the marriage, Zellweger checked the box marked "fraud." The Bridget Jones' Diary star explained she did not mean to impugn Chesney's character--she was merely going with the best of a batch of bad options. Other boxes on the request form would have accused one or both of them of bigamy, or even of being of "unsound mind."

For his part, Chesney seemed to take no offense to the word "fraud." He told ABC's The View last month that he and Zellweger still "really care about each other."

The caring, though, wasn't enough to keep the newlyweds together, or even in near proximity. Chesney resumed his Somewhere in the Sun tour shortly after the wedding. From that point on, he and Zellweger were rarely seen out and about as a couple.

Zellweger and Chesney were both first-timers at marriage. They had no children.

Since going their separate ways for good, both have found the going a bit rough. Zellweger saw the rerelease of her summer flop, Cinderella Man, reflop. Chesney saw Keith Urban steal his thunder--and his Entertainer of the Year title--at the Country Music Association Awards.

Still, Chesney's new album, The Road and the Radio, released in November, has been a hot seller--it's fifth in the latest Nielsen SoundScan rankings. And Zellweger's lined up to star in the Tom Cruise-produced Japanese horror remake, The Eye.