Renée Zellweger's Reaction to Being Called a Gay Icon Is Stunning

In the new Netflix series What/If -- from Revenge creator Mike Kelley-- Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger plays the mysterious benefactor Anne Montgomery. Playing against type, Zellweger relishes the part of a woman in power who makes an indecent proposal to spend the night with the husband of a young female biotech guru.

In an interview with The Advocate's Tracy E. Gilchrist, Zellweger shares what it's like to play a role so antithetical to past roles.

"Anne Montgomery. Is she crazy? I don't know. But it sure is fun. She's outrageous. She's so powerful by design and she taps into these things that are making me exercise muscles that I don't use," Zellweger says.

Considering she's currently playing the deliciously over-the-top Anne in What/If, she's starred as Roxy Hart in Rob Marshall's big screen blockbuster Chicago, and she's taking on the ultimate gay icon Judy Garland in the upcoming biopic Judy, she responds to being asked what it's like to be a gay icon herself.

"What, really? Good for me," Zellweger says, clapping her hands in delight. She then goes on to share what the gay friends in her life mean to her.

"I forget that I have a public persona most of the time. So to hear you say something like that is so flattering," she says.

"A great deal of my closest friends are gay people," she adds calling them "treasures" and speaking about the "admiration" for the LGBTQ people in her life who are full of "empathy, understanding and acceptance, and absence of judgment" and a knack for "embracing life."

What/If is currently on Netflix. Watch the video above.