Actress Renee Zellweger has been making the headlines for sparking concern among fans over her physical features. After attending BBC’s One Show last September 2, the ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ star’s appearance caused an online commotion because of her “unrecognizable” looks.
In 2014, the actress-producer debuted her new look which resulted to speculations of her getting plastic surgery as well as debates on women’s body image.
This month, Zellweger has been promoting the third movie of the ‘Bridget Jones’ film series in which she reprises her role as Bridget who is faced with the dilemma of finding out whether the father of her unborn child is the new American heartthrob Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) or her ex-husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).
Viewers of BBC’s flagship afternoon show were quick to recognize that the award-winning actress seemed to "struggle to open her eyes" as she chatted with presenter Alex Jones, as reported by Mirror Online.
However, Zellweger has already denied rumors that she underwent surgery, calling out the misinformed reports and deeming it as a “cause for concern and attention".
"It's disconcerting when you see something that you know is not true simply becoming the truth because it's repeated enough," the 47-year-old actress said in an interview with BBC News' Fiona Bruce.
The Oscar winner, who first took on the role of Bridget Jones in 2001, wants to make it clear that she feels confident about the aging process and is not worried about having to leave acting over the past years.
In an interview with Mail Online about her unanticipated appearance at the Women In Hollywood Awards by Elle Magazine in 2014, Zellweger said: "I'd been staying with a friend in Los Angeles and the month before she'd been diagnosed with ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a neurological disease]."
She added that her presence at the awards show was brought on by her wanting to support her friend.
"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,” Zellweger explained. “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."
Amidst speculations of plastic surgery, the Texas native has drawn attention to the need to appreciate the beauty of aging.
"I think a woman only gets more interesting as she gets older,” she shared. “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.”
Zellweger has been one of the supporters for the GREAT initiative, a gender equality foundation, and has been a committed patron of breast cancer campaigns.
"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,” she added. “It's a more powerful beauty and it's a more valuable beauty.”
‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ is set to premiere on September 16.
