The Oscar-winning actor Renee Zellweger has brushed aside media reports that she has undergone plastic surgery, suggesting that the claims are “silly” and a “nefarious truth which doesn’t exist.” Instead, the Bridget Jones star attributes her new look to a “happy, healthy” lifestyle.
“I’m glad folks think I look different,” Zellweger told People magazine. “I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows.” She added: “My friends say I look peaceful. I am healthy.”
Zellweger sparked a flurry of media speculation with her appearance at Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood awards earlier this week. “This is not Botox or even surgery,” joked the writer Viv Groskop on Twitter. “It’s a MISSING PERSON ENQUIRY.”
Other commentators suggested that the actor’s new appearance highlighted the pressures on women working in Hollywood - albeit perhaps not in the manner that Elle magazine had intended.
Zellweger, 45, rose to fame thanks to roles in Jerry Maguire, Chicago and Bridget Jones’ Diary, and won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as backwoods samaritan Ruby Thewes in Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain. She will next be seen in the courtroom drama The Whole Truth, which is set for release in 2015.
