The 45-year-old actress’ face was the source of many snarky headlines including, “What happened to Bridget Jones?” and “Is that you Renee Zellweger?” and “Stop what you are doing! Renee Zellweger has a whole new face”. So we stopped – we stopped caring.
Yes, one of our favourite cherub-cheeked, squinted-eyed, cute-as-a-button actresses looks like she might have had a little work done, but so what? Why has her changed face drawn more negative attention than a vegan at a cattle conference?
The Texan-born actress may, or may not, have done something that isn’t totally out of the ordinary for a celebrity, male or female, or anyone really, and that is she succumbed to criticism and let a doctor fix her a new face because people were particularly unkind to her old one.
If you look up ‘Renee Zellweger’ in the Urban Dictionary you will find that the top five entries are particularly nasty with one labelling Zellweger “the anti-Viagra”. But scroll down through the anonymously added (but representative) vitriol further and you will find nasty entry number eight: “Renee Zellweger: An actress from the movie Jerry McGuire [sic] that looks like she’s made of marzipan… For those of you that don’t know, marzipan is a waxy, candy-like substance that looks like it’s made of Renee Zellweger”. Ouch!
Now with her level of celebrity it’s unlikely the Oscar-winner is going to Google herself, but it would be hard to walk around and not notice the magazines, newspapers and tabloids that have been criticising her looks for nearly a decade. After a short office poll, anyone put under that kind of pressure can understand why she might have had a little nip-tuck – so why the violently hateful backlash about her looks on Monday night?
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Well you see female celebrities are particularly fascinating creatures. They are supposed to look deliciously divine and youthful at all times but without letting on they have made an ounce of effort. And with regard to medical intervention the world says, ‘we don’t mind if you have plastic surgery, just don’t get caught doing it’.
And Renee knew the rules. Historically, she only has to look at the women who have gone before her, Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah… the list goes on who fell off the face of the earth once their ‘natural’ beauty ceased to serve them. By Hollywood standards good plastic surgery is unnoticeable, bad plastic surgery will make you disappear.
So how does this culture change? Perhaps it could start with the celebrities themselves. Instead of actresses claiming that they “eat whatever they want” and the only exercise they get is “running after the kids” perhaps they can be honest about body image and aging and admit the truth.
And the truth is looking Jessica Alba 24/7 is hard bloody work. It means hours at the gym, it means eating right and taking care of one’s self – even if that requires a little injection here and there. Admitting to some cosmetic help in the crow’s feet department might earn actresses a little compassion.
If 60-year-old fresh-faced celebrities didn’t dodge the questions about plastic surgery with” ‘Well I haven’t had it done but I don’t mind anyone who has’ while struggling to make even the slightest furrow in their brow then surgery shamming wouldn’t be one of society’s favourite pastimes.
By constantly making out that a faster metabolism and an unlimited all-areas pass to the fountain of youth all come with one’s entry to the A-list, celebs are doing themselves (and all of society) a disservice by encouraging these unrealistic standards of beauty.
Renée Zellweger was brilliant as twenty-something Dorothy Boyd in 1996 rom-com Jerry MaGuire.
Renée Zellweger was brilliant as twenty-something Dorothy Boyd in 1996 rom-com Jerry MaGuire.
Renée Zellweger was brilliant as twenty-something Dorothy Boyd in 1996 rom-com Jerry MaGuire.
So, it’s time to face facts and the fact is Renee Zellweger doesn’t look like she did in Jerry Maguire (FYI that’s the correct spelling for the person on Urban Dictionary) because that was 18 YEARS AGO! And for a lady in her mid-forties Renne Zellweger didn’t look that bad on Monday night, she just didn’t look like Renee Zellweger.
But perhaps the actress herself can have the final word on the controversy that’s surrounded her.
In a seemingly cool and measured statement Zellweger says she is comfortable in her own skin and curious why people seem surprised she didn’t stay looking like a twenty-something-year-old actress forever.
“People don’t know me in my 40s,” the actress told People. “People don’t know me (as) healthy for a while.
“Perhaps I look different. Who doesn’t as they get older?! But I am different. I’m happy.”
