Changing looks of Renee Zellweger from fresh-faced Bridget Jones to Chicago bombshell as Vogue shoot leaves fans divided
ACTRESS Renee Zellweger is about to bring Bridget Jones back to the big screen – after having more transformations than her weight-obsessed character has had big knickers.
Many fans now find the Hollywood star’s changing face over the years as intriguing as her tumultuous love life.
In a new photoshoot for British Vogue, left, the 55-year-old actress looks like a dead ringer for a young Sharon Stone, sporting sharp suits and short blonde hair.
While some fans described the look as “beautiful” on Instagram, others weren’t so sure and accused Renee of “being airbrushed to oblivion” and undergoing cosmetic surgery.
One Vogue follower, Karina Barrett, wrote: “A stunning lady that for some reason has been made unrecognisable? Don’t get it?”
Another, Kathleen Pert, added: “My God I hope you did that to her face in production and it’s not permanent.”
A third commented: “Wow — surgery is a bit out of control.”
The Vogue shoot has once again put the Jerry Maguire star under scrutiny over her ever-morphing looks.
She has been pictured over the years with an apparently slimmer, smoother-looking face and fuller lips.
Her most startling change was in 2014 when she raised eyebrows on the red carpet of Elle magazine’s Women In Hollywood Awards, where she appeared to have wider, open eyes.
Renee put the 2014 look down to a change of lifestyle after stepping away from a hectic schedule that “didn’t allow for taking care of myself”.
She said at the time: “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes.
“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.”
Could it be that British boyfriend Ant Anstead, of Wheeler Dealers fame, is the motivation for her latest “happiness” makeover?
‘I like my quirkiness’
Renee this week let it slip that the couple are now living together in San Diego with Ant’s “little boy” after dating for four years.
Ant, who met the actress while filming an episode of his Discovery+ series Celebrity IOU Joyride, has a five-year-old son Hudson with his ex-wife Christina Haack.
He also shares daughter Amelie, 21, and son Archie, 18, with his ex-wife Louis. Eagle-eyed fans have speculated the pair have secretly married as Ant has referred to Renee as his “missus” in several social media posts.
Their union is certainly a happy ending for Renee who has been as unlucky in love as her chain-smoking, singleton alter-ego in the past.
The double-Oscar winner was previously wed to country music star Kenny Chesney for just four months, citing “fraud” as the reason for their 2005 split.
She was then engaged to comic actor Jim Carrey for a year before being romantically linked to Bradley Cooper, who she met filming horror mystery Case 39.
Between 2012 and 2019, she was in a long-term relationship with musician Doyle Bramhall, an American guitarist, producer and songwriter who has worked with Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters.
Harley Street plastic surgeon Dr Riccardo Frati reckons Renee is likely to have had Botox, fillers and perhaps eyelid surgery — but that ageing and weight fluctuations for roles would have also played their part in the star’s ever-changing image.
Dr Frati, who has not treated her personally, said: “It is important to remember that when thinking about Renee, we all think about the 32-year-old Bridget Jones.
“However, she had to put on 25kg to play that role. It is also known that she had to do the same for other roles.
“I can see her eyebrows are much higher than before, and this could suggest a brow lift and Botox. Renee has naturally hooded eyes, but by comparing photos I can see that she may have had eyelid surgery. It looks like fillers have been used to create a better balance on her midface and jawline.”
Renee has said she finds all the discussion about her looks “sad”.
She said: “I don’t look at beauty that way. And I don’t think of myself 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.”
Whatever the case, fans are on tenterhooks for the fourth and final Bridget Jones movie, Mad About The Boy, which follows our heroine navigating life as a widow without Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy.
In her Vogue interview, Renee reveals she spent two weeks “undercover” at a London publishing house to prepare for the role of PR girl Bridget before the first movie in 2001.
She says nobody guessed who she was, adding: “Maybe I was out of context or maybe it was having more chubby cheeks. It was odd.”
Whether Texas-born Renee will want to remain in the spotlight for long after this is anyone’s guess.
The nine-time Oscar nominee took a break from acting between 2010 and 2016 and now reveals how she spent the time.
She said: “I wrote music and studied international law. I built a house, rescued a pair of older doggies, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend, and spent a lot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs.”
It sounds like the perfect life for a certain Bridget Jones.