Comment sections of online articles are usually FAR more hateful and critical than those I've seen on articles about Renee's change. In fact, a surprising majority of comments are supportive and relatively troll-free.
Contrary to the spin these blogs are putting on this, the public reaction seems to be, as others have said, more about the shock of her looking like a completely different person. It's like a science fiction or a spy movie come to life. It's not about her age or our expectations of women. I think people would be just as shocked/fascinated if Brad Pitt traded his pretty face for someone else's.
That's not to say that that kind of misogyny doesn't exist in spades. But have that conversation about people's reactions to Joan Rivers' face. Not Renee's. Two completely different public reactions.
I think that she looks fabulous! The only work that I can detect is a lid lift. The side by side photo's above show very little change, other than that.
It's so amazing to me how one little thing like that can really make someone look entirely different.
But Renee has spoken and given the perfect response to the "controversy"
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
Here and elsewhere, I’ve seen very little in the way of negative comments about her. I know I’m just joining the chorus of artscallion, jerseygirl, et al, but it’s more about the shock of seeing her again (I didn't realize until yesterday that she hasn't made a movie in four years or that that I personally haven’t seen any movies of hers since the second Bridget Jones movie) and looking like a different person.
I just can’t fathom why it’s the tepid and not unkind reaction to Renee Zellweger that’s bringing out such weird emotions in people. And these bizzaro think pieces that put the blame on us really make me bananas. Fine, we should stop commenting on people’s looks whatsoever, whether good (via nature or surgery), bad or whatever. (Although it’s pretty rich that one of those think pieces was Buzzfeed, of all places). But let's stop pretending that the women (and men) who do this to themselves aren't complicit, even if they comply due to the pressures of their industry.
I get that it’s no bed of roses to be in the public eye and under constant scrutiny and that having to age in the public eye isn't either. Although, frankly, the “have” is kind of a misnomer as no one is holding a gun to the heads of any of these people. That’s not to say that anyone deserves cruelty and invective for choosing to live their life in the public eye. I don’t wish undue cruelty on strangers, but I’m wearing a little thin with my sympathy for the "These poor people in the public eye..." as though they were born into a family of coal miners and have no choices or other options in life. It’s like Lady Gaga, who seems to have struggled and clawed her way to massive fame for the sole of reason of being able to bitch about it every chance she gets.
Updated On: 10/22/14 at 09:57 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
At least Buzzfeed has both sides of the fence covered.
I really think this is just another way for people to stand up and be self righteous and "protect" someone who doesn't need protecting because it's easy for them to do from behind a computer screen.
Like you said, the reactions have pretty much been very positive and yet people still are all about "I suppert you, Renee!" and "We shouldn't shame women!" #standwithrenee
It's absurd and proof that hashtag activists are bored out of their minds this week.
How is this about shaming women?
Wasn't it just last week when we all shocked at what happened to Bruce Jenner's face?
(Or is that considered misogyny as well?)
It's NOT about shaming women. What I'm saying is that people all over the net are trying to make it about that and trying to make any discussion about Zellweger into a "YOU ARE SHAMING ALL WOMEN" discussion.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Renee bought the "Portio de Rossi Package". She should have spent the extra $10,000 and bought the "Angelina Jolie Package."
Ok, THERE is an (albeit fully expected) response that borders on offensive.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
I just want to remind people I prefaced my post with "it's complicated" and "contradictory."
Just like my most recent Facebook relationship statuses!
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
One of the commenters on Gawker pointed out that she looks like an older version of herself circa Jerry Maguire, which I agree with.
I also didn't realize that she also, allegedly, had problems with drinking and bulimia, which could've caused the puffy face and "chipmunk" cheeks that so many of us remember. Knowing that, she probably did only have very minor work done, is taking better care of herself, and naturally lost some of her baby fat. Still a shocking transformation, though.
I'm just laughing today that people have amped up the "outrage" x100. Today is all about how awful men are for talking about a woman. A WOMAN!
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
She put me in mind of Celia Keenan-Bulger in Glass Menagerie.
Zellweger came out of her "couch" and emerged a limping woman in need of liberation from what MEN consider beauty. She had work done to please MEN in a MALE dominated society that PHYSICALLY HELD HER DOWN to literally please MEN.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
Maybe she really did have nothing done and the squinty-phase was a byproduct of something else? She didn't seem to go full on squnity till the early 2000s.
How hilarious would it be if all she did was start wearing contacts.
Maybe. But, as men, if we discuss this public figure, than we're no better than rapists.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
How hilarious would it be if all she did was start wearing contacts.
I EL OH ELLED so hard.
^ I don't know when this Defuser.fm article was first posted, but it was definitely before the recent hooplah, and the "Now" image of Renee looks very much like her current self. I'm thinking maybe her "squinty face" period was an anomaly and the artificial product of fillers, and that this is her natural face couple with maybe a lot of weight loss now.
See the Cast of ‘Empire Records’ Then and Now
Updated On: 10/22/14 at 01:05 PM
^ I agree. That man is amazingly photogenic, then and now.
Updated On: 10/22/14 at 01:12 PM
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