RENEE Zellweger’s face has changed drastically throughout the years – and not just due to her age.
The Academy Award-winning actress has reprised her role of Bridget Jones and it appears as if Renée, 55, has attempted to turn back the clock on her appearance as she takes on the fourth installment of the film series.
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In late 1996, Renée took Hollywood by storm with her starring role, opposite Tom Cruise, in Jerry Maguire.
She quickly became known for her considerable acting talent and soft, approachable features – a rounded, youthful face, cat-like eyes, and natural full lips.
The actor’s facial features have changed dramatically since the earlier years of her career, when she starred in hits such as Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), and Chicago (2002).
Even though she’s claimed never to have had plastic surgery, telling the Huffington Post, “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes,” in 2016, it hasn’t stopped fans from being suspicious of the noticeable changes to her appearance and experts from making their judgments.
READ MORE ON RENEE ZELLWEGER
In May, Renée was spotted filming scenes in London for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Plastic surgeon, Dr. Richard Westreich, suggested that before filming her latest stint as the self-conscious Bridget, Renée has modified her face further to reclaim her natural looks.
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He claimed that Renée has attempted to “pull back” on using injectables as she revisits Bridget for the first time since 2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby.
“Two years ago, something went a little haywire,” he told The U.S. Sun.
“She had probably been getting very heavy filler added to cheeks and lips — or what we call a liquid facelift.
“Renée has been trying to pull it all back recently. In March she looked overfilled, but by May she looked better.
“Since filming [Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy], Renée looks like she has been off the sauce.”
NATURAL BEAUTY
Renée was 27 when she landed her breakthrough role in Jerry Maguire and with her career quickly taking off, the One True Thing star routinely appeared on red carpets fresh-faced, with barely any makeup.
Her natural beauty was commonly on full display, and without the constant assistance of hair and makeup teams – and no surgical enhancements – fans regularly got to see the real Renée.
Renée came into her own during the early 2000s, knocking them dead at the 2001 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in a vintage yellow gown and Old Hollywood waves.
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She again channeled classic Hollywood glitz and glam at the 2002 Chicago premiere, taking a page from her character Roxie Hart’s book as she sported loose, bouncy curls.
Her iconic features were front and center as she posed for cameras.
The next year, Renée had chopped off her long hair in favor of a short, blond bob and her famously full lips looked even more plump as she walked the red carpet at the New York City Premiere of Down with Love.
In 2004, Renée took home her first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress in Cold Mountain, solidifying her status as a true A-list actor.
The Nurse Betty star retained her natural looks around this time with her distinctive, naturally hooded eyes still present and her face still appearing fuller than later in her career.
MOVIE STAR MAKEOVER
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Westreich, who has not treated the star, suggested that Renée may have started cosmetic treatments in 2005.
“In the nineties, Renée looked like she was doing standard stuff,” he said.
“She was not getting her face modified at first.
“By 2005, she had started Botox and a little bit of lip filler which looks to have increased in 2010.
“The significant change to her face came in 2014.”
Renée debuted her seemingly new face in 2013 at the Giorgio Armani One Night Only event, where her eyes appeared wider, without the hooded lids, as she walked the red carpet.
A year later, at the 2014 Elle Women in Hollywood Awards, Renée was accused of showing off with extensive plastic surgery.
The alleged removal or tampering of her hooded lids may have caused her eyebrows to drop, nearly leaving her without any eyelid space as she appeared to majorly change her face.
The Whole Truth actress also appeared to have an excessive amount of filler in her cheeks, along with Botox around her eyes and her forehead.
The change seemed all the more dramatic due to the Oscar winner taking an acting hiatus in 2010 to attend UCLA.
When Renée reappeared in 2014, fans noticed that she looked different, although she famously denied having had plastic surgery and tinkering with her eyes.
“This was a really interesting period because all of a sudden she had upper lids,” said Westreich.
“Renée’s eyes did look really different.
“The strange thing was that a year later, her eyes were back to their old ways.”
When she returned to the big screen in 2016 for the third Bridget Jones movie, Bridget Jones Baby, the hooded folds were back above her eyes, suggesting that she quietly had her blepharoplasty reversed.
“She might have had a suture technique done that makes the upper eyelid fold. It was not a permanent fix,” Westreich said.
The surgeon claimed that after possibly dabbling in Direct Sutre Technique, Renée may have continued injecting Botox and filler.
MOVIE STAR MAINTENANCE
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Renée’s changing appearance has been a Hollywood talking point in the past.
“I’m glad folks think I look different! I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows,” the actress told People in 2017.
“My friends say that I look peaceful. I am healthy,” she added.
The same year, at the Los Angeles Premiere of Same Kind of Different As Me, Renée’s eyelids seemed to have filled out.
And while her eyelids appeared to be nearly back to normal, the position of her eyebrows seems to have gone from touching her eyelashes in 2014 to almost an inch higher.
When Renée turned 50 in 2019, her eyelids had finally settled but again her brows were still noticeably higher than they had been earlier in her career – possibly hinting at a facelift.
During the 2020 awards season, Renée hit the red carpet for her Judy Garland role with flowing, silky smooth skin – she would go on to win her second Oscar for the role.
“By 2020, Renée was possibly still doing lip filler and perhaps got a skin resurfacing procedure,” Westreich revealed.
“After that, she was still doing the Botox and her lips a little bit, when it was all the rage to have super full lips.
“By 2023, Renée looked to have had two liquid facelifts.
“After that, it would have been difficult to get rid of it all.”
BETTER WITH AGE
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Renée told The Sunday Times that she wants to look better as she ages.
“Who’s redefining 50 or 60 without having to say, ‘Hey, look at me with my clothes off, and I still look almost as good as I did back then?’” she said in 2022.
“I don’t want to be ‘almost what I was.’ I want to be a thousand times better!” she added.
According to Westreich, Renée may have shelled out $121,000 over 20 years on two liquid facelifts.
He said there could have been an eyelid suture procedure, Botox, and now $1,000 on “dissolving” any filler.
“She may have had some of the filler dissolved, and I suspect she has pulled back on the Botox,” he said.
“This could have been in time for the Bridget Jones filming in London.
“It appears Renée may be trying to look more Bridget Jones-like. After all, Bridget Jones has real lips.”
BRIDGET JONES 4
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Renée will lock lips with Netflix heartthrob Leo Woodall in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
An insider confirmed One Day star Leo, 27, will play Bridget’s love interest in the film.
The fourth movie in the series will kick off with hapless Bridget navigating life as a single mom of two following the death of Colin Firth’s character Mark Darcy.
A source exclusively told The Sun, “Bridget is going to be a real cougar in the new film and she’ll be seen starting a relationship with a much younger character played by Leo.”
RENEE ZELLWEGER’S CAREER
Renée Zellweger made her big screen debut in Richard Linklater’s 1993 coming-of-age comedy, Dazed and Confused. She went on to star in some small indepent features i.e. Love and a .45 before making a gaining widespread recognition with her starring role in Jerry Maguire (1996). Here are Renée’s most important films over her three decade career:
- LOVE AND A .45 (1994)
- THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (1996)
- JERRY MAGUIRE (1996)
- ONE TRUE THING (1998)
- NURSE BETTY (2000)
- ME, MYSELF AND IRENE (2000)
- BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY (2001)
- CHICAGO (2002)
- WHITE OLEANDER (2002)
- DOWN WITH LOVE (2003)
- COLD MOUNTAIN (2003)
- BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (2004)
- CINDERELLA MAN (2005)
- MISS POTTER (2006)
- JUDY (2019)
“Hugh Grant is back as Daniel Cleaver, so there will be a love triangle between Bridget’s older flame and this much younger new man,” they said.
In Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel Bridget Jones’ Diary, the title character lists the type of boyfriend she does not want — but doesn’t mention anything about age.
The film adaption was released in 2001 with its sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason, premiering three years later in 2004.
2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby revealed the character was pregnant.
The latest film is also based on a book, published in 2013.
Author Fielding, 66, said of Mad About The Boy getting the big screen treatment, “Every film that gets made is a miracle. I think it’s really difficult to make films and to make them happen and to make them good — and we want it to be really good.”
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