Bridget Jones star Renée Zellweger and her partner of four years Ant Anstead are fielding rumours and reports that they are living separately, with their relationship in trouble.

The Daily Mail has reported that Anstead has been staying overnight at a Laguna Beach property that belongs to Julia French, who is described as a ‘California divorcée’. Renée is reportedly filming in New York for TV series Only Murders in the Building.

Due to the fact that Zellweger and Anstead haven’t been pictured in public since March – at Anstead’s son’s football match – reports have swelled that their relationship is on the rocks. The Daily Mail also reported that Anstead is facing bankruptcy and has been selling off his assets.

His supercar company Radford Motors recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in court. The company is facing three lawsuits from customers who have accused him or his company of breaking contracts. 

A representative for Radford told PEOPLE magazine that they had received court approval for financing to fund operations, which ‘will allow the [the company to] work towards completing vehicles in process’ as they restructure. The spokesperson added that ‘any and all claims will be addressed as part of the bankruptcy case.’ 

Concerning the speculation around his relationship with Zellweger, Anstead’s representative released the following statement to Page Six: 

‘Mr. Anstead is working mostly in the UK, and he has spent some of his limited time back in [Orange County] at his friend’s home,’ it read. ‘His friend Jules has a separate, detached guest house, and the suggestion that their relationship is anything other than platonic is unacceptable and untrue.

‘The suggestion that Mr Anstead is flirtatious is not true and is disrespectful to his four-year relationship.’

‘Mr. Anstead and Ms. Zellweger are still together,’ the statement reads, adding that they ‘remain in a cherished relationship that they ask to keep private’.

Zellweger’s representative has declined to comment about the rumours and speculation.

The pair met on an episode of Anstead’s show Celebrity IOU: Joyride, which sees celebrities create ‘automobile masterpieces’ for the important people in their lives.

‘I’m really grateful to the show because these amazing things happen in your world, and sometimes when things collide, they collide at the most obscure times when you least expect them,’ he told People. ‘And that’s what happened in this case.’

In a previous British Vogue interview with Hugh Grant, Zellweger divulged that she lived in Southern California, near San Diego. When Grant asked why, she responded: ‘Because that’s where my fellow lives, and his little boy.’

Anstead attended the premiere for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy earlier this year with his children Amelie and Archie, and posted a gushing and jokey post about Zellweger.

He wrote: ‘Midweek movie night with the kiddos…. The Movie was absolutely utterly brilliant and the lead actress was mesmerising and smoking HOT (I have a mega crush on her!) I’ve let the missus know she’s my hall pass….. X’.

Zellweger has also spoken out about a different relationship in her life – her character Bridget Jones’ onscreen one with Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth. The latest film in the franchise, Mad About The Boy, sees Bridget as a widow navigating life without Darcy.

Speaking at a recent screening of the film as it becomes available to stream, the actress opened up about her own emotional reaction to filming scenes with Firth. While we meet Bridget in this film four years after Darcy’s death, where she has come to terms with his death to a certain degree, Zellweger admitted that her feelings felt very immediate and strong, as she considered the idea of Firth wrapping on his character and how it signified the end of an era. While her character wasn’t meant to cry, she definitely did.

‘Seeing him there on the sidewalk in his Mark Darcy finery with his briefcase and coat, it just got to me,’ she said. ‘I didn’t expect to be so emotional about the end of this shared journey with my friend, recognising, ‘Oh, wait, he’s gonna wrap today, and that’s it.’ And the finality of it just really was a gut punch.

‘Isn’t that crazy? Because when you get lucky, beyond getting to work with your friends, once you know, it sounds so silly, but it felt very profound in the moment.’  Zellweger said before laughing, ‘Maybe I’m crazy because maybe I love a fictional character!’

When asked about her secret to good chemistry, having had on-screen love interests such as Hugh Grant, Leo Woodall, Chewitel Ejiofor and Firth himself, Zellweger said:  ‘I’ve been really lucky, and I love the people that I’ve gotten to work with. There’s always something that I admire so much [about them], and we always seem to have a great time.’

She also described having ‘a hard time’ first meeting her Bridget Jones co-star Hugh Grant because she was ‘such a fan’.

‘I was so nervous, I just didn’t want to make a jerk out of myself,’ she said. ‘I didn’t succeed.

‘I just thought, ‘Gosh he’s so handsome!’ And now I’m going to do a movie with him?’