Renée Zellweger Would Like Everyone to Stop Talking About Her Face Now
Two years ago, Renée Zellweger shocked the world with her changed appearance. People speculated that she had surgery on her eyes, and they didn’t shut up about it until earlier this month when Zellweger addressed the rumors in an essay for the Huffington Post, titled “We Can Do Better.”
“In October 2014, a tabloid newspaper article reported that I’d likely had surgery to alter my eyes,” Zellweger wrote. “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes. This fact is of no true importance to anyone at all, but that the possibility alone was discussed among respected journalists and became a public conversation is a disconcerting illustration of news/entertainment confusion and society’s fixation on physicality.”
She pointed out that the emphasis on appearance in the media hurts women’s contributions to society, but still, Zellweger’s appearance continued to be ridiculed. The Daily Mail wrote an article picking apart her looks in an unflattering photo, ultimately shaming her for appearing her age.
Related: Why Are People Shaming Renée Zellweger for Looking Her Age?
At 47, Zellweger is over it. She recently decided to address the subsequent comments about her appearance in an interview with the very publication that propagated the issue. “I think a woman only gets more interesting as she gets older. Youth and superficial beauty have their place and that is, understandably, celebrated to a degree. But that’s so fleeting and it’s only for a moment in your life,” she told the Daily Mail. “As you mature, you’re not just getting older, you’re becoming more of who you are supposed to be, and becoming the best version of yourself, better and more interesting. It’s a more powerful beauty and it’s a more valuable beauty. Besides — I don’t want to stay the same! I’m curious about what comes next!”
Zellweger commented on the fateful night that the plastic surgery speculation began. “I’d been staying with a friend in Los Angeles, and the month before she’d been diagnosed with ALS,” she said. “The reason I went to that event was that she wanted me to go, so she could be on the red carpet with me and prove to herself she wasn’t being defeated by this terrible disease. And that’s what I was thinking about that day. I wasn’t thinking about what I looked like or what people thought. I was thinking about my friend.”
Related: Renée Zellweger Reveals Why She Left Hollywood for ‘Anonymity’: ‘It Was Time to Grow Up a Bit’
Zellweger’s message remains the same as it was in her original statement. “Maybe we could talk more about our many true societal challenges and how we can do better.”
Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
