There was a lot of negativity surrounding Renée Zellweger in much of the early 2010s. It seems she took all of it extra seriously. So seriously that, in fact, she took a lengthy break from acting altogether from 2010 to 2016. The last movie before her break was My Own Love Song, and the one she returned with was the sequel of her former movie, Bridget Jones’s Baby.
The portrayal of the legendary Judy Garland in her star movie, Judy, was an emphatic one for the 50-year-old. Well, winning the Oscars 2020 for Best Actress is the result. And while the drastic 20 lbs weight loss within a year was a kind of a shocker in the early 2000s, her face was unrecognizable during her rare 2010s appearances.
Zellweger’s weight loss was attributed to her role as ‘Judy’ as well.
Source: Pathe UK
Of course, the changes prompted discussions of whether she opted for plastic surgery for her face. And even though Hollywood broke her, she still got back stronger.
Renée Zellweger’s Appearance at the ‘2014 Women in Hollywood Celebration’ Started People Suspecting Plastic Surgery
It had been a long time since people saw Zellweger properly out and about, but on the night of October 20, 2014, she appeared at Elle Magazine’s Women in Hollywood celebration event in Beverly Hills. There was a new Renée Zellweger on the red carpet and smiling with that same blonde hair, but a different face.
Several publications started talking about her face. The New York Times described her face so forth, “Ms. Zellweger’s forehead was as smooth as a packed ski slope, and her eyes as crystal-blue as ever, but they appeared, in some images, wide and round as pennies.”
Renée Zellweger before 2010 and during her ‘Elle Magazine’s Women in Hollywood’ celebration appearance.
Source: ‘Case 39’/Mario Anzuoni, Reuters
Her pictures on the internet that night caught fire as everyone else started making articles about her new face. Although, all of them were not exactly critical of her changing persona. Several outlets were defending her for the pressure she’s had to endure all those years.
It was not just harassing her for the truth, but rather a subject of worry for their “quirkily pretty, Kewpie-doll star” they saw for years before. For a lot of fans, her past character roles made them put themselves in the shoes of those very characters. She was not their Renée Zellweger anymore.
Renée Claimed She Was Living a Happy Life, But Theories on Possible Procedures Just Kept Coming
Immediately after the Elle Magazine party, she was quick to share her own thoughts on everyone’s comment on her face. She was a new one to speak so publicly about her rumors. “I’m glad folks think I look different!” she told People about her happy life. “I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows.”
The Bridget Jones star called the conversations about her appearance ‘silly’, stating, “It seems the folks who come digging around for some nefarious truth which doesn’t exist won’t get off my porch until I answer the door.” According to her friends too, she was really comfortable with her skin.
Zellweger did not care too much of people talking about her face.
Source: Reuters
As for an expert opinion, Dr. Michelle Copeland of NYC had some possible theories of the plastic surgery procedures she might have done — for examples, probably a blepharoplasty, or upper eyelid lift, and possibly even a forehead lift, with injectable fillers that may have widened the planes of her face. There was also the possibility of laser or ultrasound procedures.
In contrast to some extreme and bizarre plastic surgery procedures that others have opted, however, Dr. Nancy Etcoff says, “This is about a lot of subtle changes that add up to a person who no longer looks like our memory of them.”
Zellweger Wrote an Entire Essay for HuffPost Denouncing All the Talk of Plastic Surgery
Yes, there’s a whole article of her talking about the tabloids discussing her (rumored) surgery to her eyes. She responded to it in a very strong and professional language.
“It didn’t matter; just one more story in the massive smut pile generated every day by the tabloid press and fueled by exploitative headlines and folks who practice cowardly cruelty from their anonymous internet pulpits.”
Not a smile with the finger pointed in that essay.
Source: Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Limited
The essay titled We Can Do Better, was published to criticize the media scrutiny, also writing, “Ubiquitous online and news source repetition of humiliating tabloid stories, mean-spirited judgments and false information is not harmless.”
And Wait, There’s More
Speaking of which, the “humiliation to set her perspective right” thing on her Vulture profile was not insinuating the plastic surgery rumors. It was those things that led her to stop acting during all those years. However, she did talk about these pesky “plastic-surgery kerfuffle” and the kind of panic they brought when she didn’t look like herself in that Elle party.
Regardless of what the tabloids say, her Hollywood age hasn’t matured yet.
Source: Getty
“And the implication that I somehow needed to change what was going on because it wasn’t working. That makes me sad,” she stated. “I don’t look at beauty in that way. And I don’t think of myself in that way. I like my weird quirkiness, my off-kilter mix of things. It enables me to do what I do. I don’t want to be something else. I got hired in my blue jeans and cowboy boots with my messy hair. I started working like that. I didn’t have to change to work. So why was I suddenly trying to fit into some mold that didn’t belong to me?”
Despite all the criticisms, Zellweger did really learn to embrace herself after attending those therapy appointments during the break. Salma Hayek was an instrumental personality in helping her realize she needed to slow the pace of life a little. For now, she says she’s admittedly stronger than ever.
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