Renée Goes Country

Renée Zellweger has a well-known soft spot for musically inclined men, but is she a little bit country as well as a little bit rock and roll? The Oscar winner, who was last linked to Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice following her failed romance with White Stripes rocker Jack White, is now dating Kenny Chesney, her rep tells People. Zellweger, who usually keeps her private life under-the-radar, apparently decided to go public in a very big way last Friday at the country crooner's concert in Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Tennessean, the actress ended up locking lips with Chesney on stage with a little help from his practical joke-loving manager. See, most nights, the manager sends out a large, hirsute minion to give Kenny, 37, a margarita (what kind of show is this, anyway? Does he get nachos during the encore?), but that evening, Renée, 36, did the delivery honors. The svelte star didn't disappoint the cowboy-hatted crowd, reportedly handing over the drink with a big smile and a kiss. On Monday, the Southern sweethearts made the scene at P.F. Chang's in Nashville, where they were spied "laughing and canoodling at a corner table," says the paper. "She's some kind of cocktail waitress," Chesney told the Tennessean through his rep. "I figured lunch was the least I could do for a tip." It seemed destined that Chesney would eventually hook up with Zellweger. Not only has he called her his favorite actress, but he penned the hit song "You Had Me from Hello" after seeing her in "Jerry Maguire." "When [Renée] said that in the movie, it was like instant. I said, 'That could be a wonderful song,'" he told USA Weekend in 1999. "There's only so many ways you can say 'I love you' and 'I hate you.'"