This is a genuine question. If you saw Renee Zellweger out and about, judging from these latest photos of her, you might think she looked familiar but you wouldn’t think, “that’s Renee Zellweger,” right? You wouldn’t recognize her, at least I wouldn’t. At an event where she’s identified, it’s easy to say “huh, I guess that’s Renee Zellweger,” but otherwise I might see her out, do a double take and forget about it. I often see people who remind me of celebrities, but I chalk that up to my job and to staring at famous faces all day. (Protip: if you feel like flattering someone, tell them they look like someone famous. I kind of love to do that, but it’s not phony! Usually the person really reminds me of a celebrity.) So if I saw Renee now it might not compute for me that it was her.
So obviously Renee had some work done. I like her, she’s not a famewhore, and she seems like a genuinely nice person who does good deeds. I’m not going to criticize her for getting a few jabs or an eye job or whatever she had done to look like this. I don’t think she needed it, but I understand the plastic surgery motivation in general, especially in her industry where the pressure is so high. That said, does she look plastic? Does she look super fake and “done”? To me, she doesn’t. She just looks very different from how she did before, and like she had some minor work. If I saw her out, as a civilian I didn’t know, I wouldn’t think that she had too much plastic surgery, just some Botox.
It’s kind of shocking how different Renee looks though, and how she looks like a familiar version of herself. She could be her younger sister. Will this be a Jennifer Grey-type situation and will it cost Renee work? I think she was just as pretty before. Her wide eyed look is a little too contrived, but again that’s in relation to how she looked before. If I didn’t know her, I wouldn’t be struck by her obvious plastic surgery. So I guess that means it’s decent surgery, however different it makes her look.
What happens to someone’s identity when they radically change their looks? How long does it take to get used to? I guess it depends on the person. I doubt it’s something I could get used to, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’ll know that experience someday.
Thanks to Kit for mentioning this on the Lisa Kudrow post
photo credit: WENN and FameFlynet
I really like her like this. Wow. If you’re going to do plastic surgery, this is how you do it. She looks stunning! Her features are so much more relaxed. Good for her.
Edit: is it possible she hasn’t had much work done, and that most of it’s just because she stopped the tightening procedures? Her face looked painfully tight before these new photos.
She had a blepharoplasty to get rid of her prominent upper eye area and it appears that her jaw is shaved on the sides.
The difference between Renee and Jennifer Grey is that Jennifer had a white hot career at the time of her surgery and Renee’s is on the downslope side. That being said I think that this can only help her career.
That’s what I think, too, springingforward. People below are worried that this will affect her career. To them I say, What career? She hasn’t had a movie in years, and a hit one in even longer. This may well revitalise her prospects.
I particularly love how the changes emphasise more of the typically-Scandi features in her face. It’s a very strong but beautiful face now. I always got the impression she wanted people to take her more seriously than they do, and her new look will definitely help with that.
Her old face was just too cute.
Yes that’s it! No more squinty tight eyes. She looks really different and good, though I always did like the way she looked before. Great work!
I had blepharoplasty and it didn’t change my appearance except to make me look more refreshed. She had distinctive squinty eyes which made her who she was.
It might help her career if:
1) she is still able to have some facial expression;
2) her industry is interested in a middle-aged actor, not particularly talented, whose features are similar to those of a number of soap-opera characters.
I doubt this is the case, however, we will see.
I tend to agree with you. Also, she may have gained some weight, which would help soften her face. AND she’s in love right now, which ALWAYS makes my face look better. 🙂
Yes the weight definitely makes her look better, she was always so skinny when not working on bridget jones!
Man, the general population is clueless. Renee has been getting fat injections in her face for years from a famous dr in NYC. How do think she retained those chip munk cheeks with zero body fat from running 5 miles a day.
Looks like she got a upper bleph, botox and laser tightening radio frequency via Tripollar or Thermage like GOOP.
And a boob job.
Yes, she looks good. I thought she was Kate Capshaw after a Botox implosion when I first saw this. Shows you that a lot of Botox can have a lot of effect, but wow, that is one shiny big forehead.
There’s only one problem: she doesn’t look like Renee anymore. Not even young Renee had round eyes like these. This is bad work, and I don’t believe it will help her get work if that was the intention.
I agree I am glad I am not the only one that sees this as bad work, now I can only see her forehead.
I don’t like it either. I thought she was quite attractive as she was. Now she just looks odd to me. And kind of like Darryl Hannah. It’s probably that post-surgery look similarity I’m seeing.
I totally agree, she doesn’t look like herself at ALL. Freaky.
This reminds me of when they hire a new actor for a regular character in soap operas. She doesn’t look like the same person at all.
Totally agree, I wouldn’t recognise her at all and that is a bad thing! Part of her acting success is that the audience recognizes her as RZ, well now I’d see her name and wonder where she was.
She looks generic now, she looked unique before
Bad decision on her part…
I guess she can get acting jobs for generic soccer mom roles now. I genuinely liked her look before. Now she looks like a store brand … And not a particularly pretty one. Which sucks. I kind of liked her… Aside from her crazy screechy voice.
Interesting that you use the term “round eyes”. Her heritage is from Lapland and the Asian influence of the reindeer herders is what causes a Scandinavian woman have rather Asian eyes. She does not look like her prior self, but still looks wholesome, healthy and pretty. Some people have blepharoplasties because their eyelids droop over the eyeball, causing vision problems.
I agree. She didn’t need the eyelift. Loved her look before.
Nothing is “good” if it takes away what is you. No, that doesn’t look like her. She might look “softer” … but she diminished herself in the process.
I agree, her eyes look a lot less squinty, she looks great.
I disagree. She looks like a totally different person and in no way “better or “younger”. This is what scares the hell out of me with plastic surgery. You can come out looking completely different. I think this is a disaster unless it’s very recent and hasn’t “settled” yet.
This. I don’t care how she looks because I love her so much as an actress! Plastic surgery is creepy.
I think it’s kind of gross the way people are saying she looks better without her ‘squinty eyes’. Those eyes are an INDIGENOUS TRAIT of the Sami people, whom Renee shares heritage with. She erased the heritage from her face in order to conform to the round-eyed Western standard. It’s her choice, but it still makes me sad that she felt it necessary…and then I see people talking about ‘squinty eyes’ being ugly or undesirable, and I see why someone would be influenced to make such a decision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people
I myself am ‘Western’ (Irish/French) with Cherokee heritage, but hooded eyes are also a Celtic trait and many people of that descent have them. I don’t, but my sister does (and father did) and I think they are beautiful and different.
Like it or not, she’s in an industry where appearance matters a lot. There’s nothing wrong with having “squinty” eyes, but that combined with all her other facial features- tight skin, thin neck, high cheeks, big smile- made her look electrocuted all the time. I know I was often on edge when she came on screen. Why do you think she was chosen for her character in White Oleander?
Being that she gave off a very specific vibe, the range of roles she could previously play was very limited. Her new face opens up new possibilities.
This is a much better look for her personality, too.
Decloo, I don’t think anyone’s said she looks younger. She looks older, if anything, but in a really healthy, wholesome way.
Agree with RosettaStoned- – those eyes were a Sami characteristic and it’s sad that she felt she had to “correct” them. They made her distinctively beautiful, not like everybody else.
RosettaStoned, thank you for the link. Very interesting. And I agree with what you say.
All faces are beautiful, people.
Rosettastone: I totally agree
I am of the Celtic squinty-eyed variety. The problem with the droopy eyelids is that as you age, they literally cover over your eyes and reduce, sometimes dangerously, your field of vision. Both my parents had to have blephs done and I hated how they looked permanently surprised for about two years but then the eyes settled back. In my dad’s case, all the way back down to the point where he had to have another bleph done. Insurance paid for theirs. I am very afraid to get my eyes done so I will wait to see if I have to. So while I will probably have no problem getting work done on my chin if I do that, I’m making them leave my eyes alone unless I’m in my 70s and can’t see. Because I will not look like myself at all with a bleph.
Wow, I wouldn’t know it’s her! Her new eyes makes her look like a totally different person. I’m not sure if that would be a good move for her career.
Remember Jennifer Grey (Dirty Dancing) had a nose job to remove the bump from her nose? For many, this change on her image, cost her nothing less than her career.
Exactly, I didn’t recognize her at all, and Jennifer Grey was my first thought too. It’s kinda shocking how different she looks. Totally unnecessary and probably career-changing.
In the last pic I was actually getting a bit of a Christina Applegate vibe, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That said, I don’t like the new wide-eyed look because it really does make her look incredibly different.
Also, is it just me or is her face fuller because she put on some weight? Not saying that to snark, but she looks a bit heavier IMHO.
I think she had her eyes done.. Had them opened or whatever you call it. Her eyes were very sqinty and now they are more opened.
I don’t usually go with the OH SHE HAD SURGERY.. but this is very obvious. She looks like a different person all together.
I agree. She had a unique look before – now she looks kind of generic.
that’s it! thanks for putting into words for me… she does look generic.. still beautiful, but she’s lost those unique qualities that separated her from the Barbie blond look characteristic of Hollywood’s women
Yep- she looks like a Tina Fey wanna be instead of her pretty self
Exactly, I just wrote the same thing in reply to an above comment without reading your comment (we obv share the same brain!)
Totally agree
yup. generic is the word. she looks like every other aging hw actress.
Word.
Her eyes look more wide open. Not a brow lift, but something with the eyelids? The squint is gone.
This, exactly. My 75 year old mother is visiting me now- she had surgery to lessen the extreme hooding of her upper eyelids- and the look is similar. For her, it was medically covered- it was impairing her vision, but the effect is the same.
Upper lid blepharoplasty, FTW!
BTW, she looks weird now.
Yes! My husband’s family all have these gorgeous, hooded, Richard Gereish eyes. Great on young people, but they all eventually have to have some skin removed because it impairs vision.
I’m guessing she had that done and it *may* have been deemed medically necessary.
My husband is in his 40s and was just told he should have that surgery, because as he gets older his vision will be affected. He’s really wrestling with the whole idea of changing his appearance. When I looked closely at the photos of “before” Renee, it’s plausible that that could have been the reason for her surgery, too.
@Dinah – my mother is 73 and had the same surgery. Her lids were drooping and impairing her vision. The doctor was great and did a subtle job; he actually left a little bit of puffiness under her eyes to look “natural” and not pulled too tight. She still looks the same though. I think it looks better than Renee actually; I’m a little shocked at how different she looks.
She really does. The squint was a part of what made her unique, and now, since she has such piercing blue eyes, she looks a bit possessed! She is pretty, but she looks mighty tight and fake now, and soooo different from how she used to look. I would not have known who she is if I had seen a photo with no caption, and even with a career on the downslope, it doesn’t seem like the best idea to become totally unrecognizable.
This reminds me of when Kenny Rogers had similar surgery. Those crinkly eyes became huge, round, and off-putting. Even he regrets it now.
They love it in China…The Western look .
To me, she looks a lot different. Her squinting that was almost a signature look for her is gone. Now she looks like everyone else. She doesn’t look bad, just ordinary IMO.
It reminds of me of Jennifer Grey when she had her nose job. There was nothing wrong with her original nose. It fit her face, was a little unique and she looked pretty with it. Now she just looks ordinary, still pretty, but nothing special.
But, I can see why Rene had the surgery. Hooded eyes don’t age well (I kinda sorta have the same thing) and she is in a business that shuns actresses that are aging. Maybe closeups had become a challenge.
While I think Renee looks great, I am a little sad that she doesn’t look completely like herself anymore :(. You are right, the hooded eyes was what made her so unique and interesting looking, and now that’s gone. But if it really was an actual medical procedure to see better, then that I understand. But still, she doesn’t look like the Renee I remember from her movies. I am a big fan of her regardless, but this is still surprising.
She now looks like a young Liv Ullmann.
Yes!
I see it. That’s it.
She reminds me of actress Kelly Lynch and also figure skater/boxer/knee-capper Tonya Harding.
That is so creepy. What did she do? Something with her eyelids/brows maybe. It´s not even an improvment so why?
I don’t know how someone looks at her new face and thinks, “It’s not even an improvement”.
…because it doesn’t even look like her! Not a fan, this was a bad move.
I don’t think it’s an improvement at all! She’s unrecognizable, and not as pretty. I hate it. Brigitte Jones is lost forever.
Why have plastic surgery and then look same same but different? She looked fine before and now just looks like a different person. So unnecessary in my opinion.
She’s lost her look. If she needed it for visual issues, she didn’t need to have so much removed.
Saw a post of her on Go Fug Yourself, and I seriously questioned if that was really her. The eye lid lift (I am guessing) completely changed her appearance.
I actually think it’s an improvement, her eyes have lost that squinty look. It doesn’t look plastic at all and she seems to have stopped those drastic skin peels she used to get that made her look like she fell asleep under a sun lamp.
I think it’s an improvement too. She looks good.
Well her eyes learned how to open outside of movies LOL… She still looks like a freshly skinned/burned/peeled socialite
There ‘s something almost Kim Basinger-like in the third picture…it ‘s definitly different. Neither good or bad, just different.
She looks a bit like Sarah Paulson. Maybe she had something done to her eyes, I can’t spot anything else.
I thought so too, she reminds me of Sarah.
I totally agree. I was almost wondering if it was?
I’m thinking cheek implants. To me that looks more obvious than the eyelid surgery y’all have been talking about.
I don’t like it. She doesn’t look like herself. 🙁
I thought so, too. She looks a lot like Sarah Paulson now. I think she looks pretty but not like herself. She had a distinctive look and now it’s gone. She doesn’t look bad-just really different.
Completely agree on Sarah Paulson. Call me crazy but I also see slight hints of Kristen Wiig in there as well?
So at first, reading the headline, I was like nooooooooooooonnn, please guys can we NOT jump all over her for looking older, she looks FINE … but then, yeah, on closer inspection, and upon actually reading the article 😉 where you’re not at all being ageist or mean… yeah… it’s def too bad that she clearly had something done to her eyes- they are wide open now. She doesn’t look bad in any way but she doesn’t look like HERSELF. I think her squinty eyes were part of her cuteness, sort of a trademark Renee Zellweger thing, and I can imagine that being such a particular trait, it probably bugged her her whole life long… Too bad! cuz yeah, she’s unrecognizable now.
I remember seeing some blurb from an interview a few years back where her face seemed so oddly paralyzed and swollen (I’d say def too much botox for one thing) it looked like she had trouble talking. It was weird and totally unflattering to her image, really.
Silly actresses, don’t you know you NEED your faces?
Also, I see some Naomi Watts in that face now… definitely pretty, but, like, why must everyone look the same kind of pretty?
Yes, you just summed it up perfectly. I almost feel as if she should have had the eye surgery YEARS ago, before people got used to her squinty eyes and associated her with them. Now, she looks like a completely different person. I honestly did not recognize her at all – I too thought it was Naomi Watts for a moment. I was fond of her previous look. Now, she looks totally generic. I hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on her career, as I really like her work.
She looks better. I wonder it as she aged the squinty eyes were causing issues and she had that fixed? You hear of that happening.
she had her eye hoods lifted and forehead botoxed……..not bad but not the same….
It looks like she just gained a few pounds. I think she looks good.
Good catch, TTIC. In addition to whatever work she’s had done, she does look like she’s gained a bit of weight. It’s softened her a lot.
I’m such a big fan of this look …! She looks so much more natural now.
“She looks so much more natural now” that she’s had plastic surgery? That made me laugh 😉
She looks fine, but she looks completely different. (She also looks like she just rolled out of bed. Is she at an event or the grocery store?)
Ironic, right, DJ? She really does, though!
I was thinking it was her eyes and that she gained weight as well. The weight looks good on her. For a while she was way too skinny.
I think there’s another Bridget Jones movie that’s going to be filmed.
Wow. She looks completely different. Not sure if this will sell well in hollywood though. The public want to see Renee in a movie, not someone that looks a little bit like her. In saying that , who really wants to see her anymore? Beside Bridget jones she really wasn’t a big draw card in movies.
She looks great, I think it improves her looks.
Yup. She had her eyes done and now it’s like, where is Renee Zellweger? Now she does look like every socialite in Palm Beach.
She just did her eyes.
I was coming to say what a few others have said. My uncle had to have an eyelid lift at a certain age bc the hoods of his eyes were obstructing his vision. It could be something similar.
Sometimes she did look ridiculously squinty. Like she’d get nervous, or the lights would be too bright, and she would scrunch up her face and her eyes would disappear. BUT she did not ALWAYS look squinty in films. So now she “did something” and her eyes will ALWAYS look wide open. Seems like a bad move for an actor. I miss squinty.
Noooooo!! Her squinty eyes were her whole entire face! WTF was she thinking??!!
She now looks like JK Rowling, Jr.
@Blue Marie – I can’t reply to you on my phone but yes, she does look like Paulson. My first thought was Robin Wright but I definitely see Paulson on there too.
Well, as a squinty-eyed person this is upsetting – now I have to find someone else to use when I say “I make Renee Zellweger look surprised”
Frida_K (above) said she looked like J.K. Rowling, Jr. You and Blue Marie are saying she looks like Sarah Paulson. Bottom line is: she looks like anybody else but herself.
She really does look different. She is still cute, definitely. I hope she is happy with the result.
Yeah, I can’t quite figure out what else she had done, but if it makes her happy. She will forever be Gina who slept with Rex Manning to me.
Paulson and a little bit of Christina Applegate.
I miss her squintiness. I’m all for subtle surgery that removes things that DON’T lend character to a face (like the 11s or undereye bags) but it makes me sad when we remove/change attributes that set us apart from others. I honestly think the best and most successful plastic surgery shouldn’t be immediately detectable and the person should still look like themselves.
@ Kitten:
“The 11s”? Sorry, I tried to google its meaning but couldn’t find it.
@Eve-the two lines that you get in between your eyes- glabella, “frown lines” etc.
You know, like when people are always furrowing their brow….
Thank you! I got it. I do that all the time (my frowny face is an epic one).
P.S.: Seriously, I refreshed this page so many times — whenever anyone uses an expression I don’t know, I google it before I ask (which I only do when Google decides NOT to be my friend).
I liked her squinty look. She’s too generic looking now. She’s lost her uniqueness.
+1
Sadly, you’re right.
Yes.
Definitely agree. I was looking at People StyleWatch and there is a Revlon ad where really Emma Stone and Olivia Wilde look like the same person in two different ads. Generic looking – not so good! Keep your uniqueness! I guess it’s telling what the current trend is. (Resist!) The pressure must be so hard tho’ once you are in that ‘bubble.’
Oooh, I told you all about my neighbor’s hot grandson who looks just like Ewan McGregor right? Down to the gingery beard–he looks a little grumpy though.
But I do think she looks better–she was looking really harsh there for a while, and now she looks softer.
Really, really different. Would never guess that was her had it not been for the caption.
I do think she had something done to her eyes, but I also think some of it is because she is getting older, I know my face has changed a lot since I turned 40. I think she looks better now than she looked at last years Oscars, maybe she’s laid off the botox (I felt she looked pretty jacked up at last years Oscars). As for plastic surgery I had a discussion with my fellow female co-workers (me 40 the rest 50’s-60’s) a couple of days ago and we all agreed that if you have the money and are unhappy with something go for it.
Last time she was at the Oscars, she looked drugged or drunk & couldn’t speak properly. She is now unrecognizable as RZ. Too much eye work – she could have lightened the upper lids & still retained the almond shape. Now she has round eyes.
I think she looks like Korie Robertson from Duck Dynasty. I actually think she looks softer and prettier. Thumbs up for me.
Wow! Bad eye job. Booooooo.
I like her and hate her new face. It scares me.
I agree–she looks hard and plastic now around the eyes. Too bad.
I loved her squinty look. She looks so different now. I would have never recognized her.
Eye lift, Botox and a boob job? I’m guessing. She looks great but I probably wouldn’t recognize her until she spoke. She has that unique voice and manner of speech.
If you compare the photos, I think it’s just her eyes. It’s amazing how much that alone changed her face.
I think she looked fine before and I think she looks fine now. But maybe she got tired of people calling her squinty for years.
I think she had a brow lift, too. The distance between her eyebrows and hairline has changed, and the hairline itself is a little wonky.
It’s extremely well done. It just makes her pretty unrecognizable. I would think that’s a problem for any actress in her forties — what hook do you bring to the casting director, if not the goodwill you’ve built up with your fans? Who need to recognize you during the press tours!
I agree about the brow lift, I figured it was all part of the eye procedure.
Don’t know about the cheeks though, I think that might just be a bit of weight gain (which looks good on her).
Her cheeks are much plumper too. And while I agree she’s gained a bit of weight but it’s not enough weight to explain new apple cheeks. To me it’s the cheeks that have changed her face proportions the most.
I would think it was Kelly Preston. What a difference the eyes make. I prefer the old ones.
I kind of like it. I thought she had probably had some pretty bad surgery near the height of her fame. She looked like she was sucking on a lemon. But maybe it was just bad makeup. She definately looks better, but very different. When I saw the first picture I thought it was going to be a story about Dax Shepherd’s wife.
I dont think it was necessary, since this was ‘her’ look- why erase her individuality? On a positive note, the surgery is super well-done, and it isnt plastic (at least on the eyes).
Am I the only one who thinks she had her cheek implants removed/downsized? It does look like she had her upper eyelids done, but I think the biggest difference is that the bottom lid isn’t being squeezed up into her eye by the chipmunk cheeks she gave herself a while back. There’s a huge difference between how full her face was in the old pictures vs. now, even though she weighed less a few years ago.
And while she doesn’t look very, very different, I like it. She already wasnt working because face looked completely alien, now she looks like a comparatively normal, non-plastic person, even if she doesn’t really look like herself. Massive improvement.
No I agree there is something different with her cheeks, but it could be the extra weight she is carrying. It looks good on her.
I agree there is definitely blepharoplasty, eyebrow lift, cheek work and breast augmentation. It really softens her.
While I think she looks great, I agree with posters who hate to see her lose the signature squint.
I totally agree about the cheeks. Gaining weight doesn’t automatically give you apple cheeks. And she probably only gained 5-10 lbs not enough to account for plumper cheeks. See my above comments.
Well, I think she looks good but she also looks generic now. I see Christina Applegate, I see some Naomi Watts, I even see some Nicole Kidman in her face.
I wonder, too: how long does it take to get used to a surgery that just totally changes your look? And do people talk about that? Because it’s very much a thing in Hollywood — get to a certain age, get something done that totally changes your face.
At least in this case, it’s not duck lips and giant cheek implants, right?
I had the same eyes (we call them gecko eyes) & did them in my 20s. The below brow skin literally sits on your eyelashes in some cases & can impair vision. However, for actresses with a signature look, it dramatically changes your look. This is a key reason Catherine ZJ looks so different. The bleph procedure eliminated the exotic quality of her beauty by removing her slightly slanted, deep set eyes.
Ah yes now you point it out, you are right, CZJ lost that exotic beauty due to an eye job. What a shame.
Renee looks better but boring. Cannot imagine her now face doing Bridget Jones.
Renee didn’t just have a squint, her eyes were that way because she’s of Sami and Kven ancestry. They are ethnic groups in Norway where her old eye shape is very common. It’s kind of sad the she has erased her ethnicity from her face, just like Jennifer Grey. She looks like Naomi Watts now. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just odd.
Definitely her eyes. She got those done because she was starting to get the “hooded” look. Good for her if it makes her feel better. She doesn’t look terrible. Just needs to put on a little weight.
It looks like Renee to me. She just got her eyes done and they look great, not too much, and they will settle as time goes on. She doesn’t look as thin as she usually looks, which is good.
I don’t think people understand that when you have eyes like she had, the heavy skin drooping over her eyelids, it gets worse and worse as you get older. In face, when we see her that’s with fake eyelashes and all kinds of tricks to try to make them look a little more open. When she gets up in the morning, they are just drooping over her eyes. I remember I was on medication for a while that I guess began doing some odd swelling over my eyes. I have nice eyelids and never got women wanting a eye job before. But every day I would get up and see all that skin drooping over my lids and I looked so old and tired. I didn’t know what was going on. It went on for a couple of months and I was trying to figure out what was causing it, never thinking medication. But after a month or even more of looking like that every morning I was miserable and realized why women might do it. Once I stopped the medication after finding that as a side effect online, it went away and my nonsaggy eyelids came back and I had back my nice open eyes again and refreshed look, not tired. Thank God. I realized unless I had a problem someone else who isn’t happy about had, it was never up to me to judge if they did something.
Wow, I’ve never seen that happen to a movie star before, except Jennifer Gray, where she actually doesn’t look like herself anymore. I would never have picked it was her. She had quite a distinctive look before which I liked. I think she doesn’t look “done” as such, she looks good, she just doesn’t look like herself. There’s a lot of pretty/beautiful women in Hollyweird, but the ones I think are beautiful are usually the “different” pretty ones, ones with character about their face along with the beauty. She’s taken away her “different” beauty and replaced it with a generic one. I think that’s pretty sad actually as she was different before, now she looks like all the other blondes out there.
I think she looks good… looks like the skin around her eyes has been lifted.
I guess we can’t refer to her as Squinty Zellweger anymore!
I agree with those who opined she had eyelids done for medical reasons- I can believe it as her eyes have always been so “squinty”. I know folks who had had this procedure, and none have had this level of “wide eye”, for lack of a better term. Isn’t she supposed to play Bridget Jones again?
That’s what I’ve read. It explains the weight gain, definitely.
And I wondered if everyone who has this procedure looks this different. It might be in my future, but not if I look like a different person afterwards!
I find this incredibly sad. She didn’t enhance her looks; she changed them entirely. How much she must have hated herself to go this route.
IMO, she’s looked a little “waxy” in recent years. Now, she’s added blepharoplasty and perhaps an upper (or mini) facelift to her PS portfolio.
She looks wonderful!! I think less is more. She may have had her upper lids & chin worked on, but I believe the absence of botox is what we are seeing. Her hair has grown out some. Good for her!!
Yes, you can even see some faint lines across her forehead, which probably haven’t been visible in years thanks to the Botox. She looks so much more natural now.
And still photos are tricky, yes she looks different but I’m guessing in motion she might not look quite as dramatically different.
I see some people have commented along the lines of “she shouldn’t have done it” and “it’s totally unneccessary” but to me it looks like she had a bad case over overhang on her upper eyelids and that is a really problematic thing to have.
I know a few people who had bleroplasty and none of them did it solely to look better. It really is a pain. A lot of women with this problem can’t even wear make-up without it contantly smudging and mascara transferring onto the upper eyelids.
I think she was smart to have it done, but it’s really a shame that it changed her look so much. Many people still look like themselves after this procedure.
I’d guess an eyelift.
Why, why, why do these women do this kind thing to themselves? She has totally changed her features so that now she looks like any ordinary, run of the mill woman you see at the grocery store. Renee had a very attractive and endearing face before someone convinced her she needed to “freshen up”. What a shame.
Plus she didn’t get it overdone. She has a more open look but you can see she doesn’t have big eyelids. I don’t even see her eyelids still, so it was done conservatively actually. It’s just not hooded over her eyes anymore. It will settle down as time goes on. I had a friend do it who had really great eyelids. I have no clue why she did it and she looked too startled. But even someone like her who shouldn’t have had it because she had no reason within a year she looked fine. I think she was getting rid of hereditary bags under her eyes, which I never noticed really, and the doctor suggested while she was under to go ahead and do her upper eyelids since she was in her late thirties. She regretted listening to him because she had no need. You only do that when you have excess skin like Renee.
Why the greasey hair…UGH.
She looks very different…good or bad, I don’t know. Wish all these celebs would stop w/ the endless plastic surgery.
She doesn’t look bad, I thought it was Sarah Paulson for a moment, but it’s always disconcerting when seeing someone that no longer looks like themselves. It really would suck to have to age in Hollywood.
Are you sure this woman is Renee Zellweger? Would like to see her ID
Sadly, i don´t think she´ll get much work again. Her best actor-days are over and judging by her new face she knows it.
She looks beautiful! I wouldn’t recognize her, but she looks good! One of the best jobs I’ve seen on anyine. It doesn’t look odd or contrived.. She looks beautiful!
She looks completely different! I always thought her squinty eyes were endearing. Maybe she doesn’t look as different when watching her in action as opposed to just pictures.
It is rare that I’m amazed by such a striking contrast, but the eye-work is rather obvious—though I do think this is a combination of a few things rather than one thing that ultimately achieves this drastic change. It looks as if she has had a brow lift, eye-lid lift (possibly), botox (forehead and around eyes to relax the muscles that would cause the squinting), lip fillers (though slight), along with the reduction in the amount of eye-makeup that she typically used in the past to open up what had been her squinty eyes.
She went from looking like a Rachel Zoe-in the making to Robin Wright Penn in one fell swoop.
You know I think it looks like she gained weight. That’s it.
I loved her old eyes. It’s too bad.
OMG wtf happened to her! Bad plastic surgery? And she looks even older..wtf
I’ve nevertheless really been a fan-especially during her lemon face days. But I think she’s looking incredible right now. Mainly because she’s gained some much needed weight which softens her entire look-seriously look back at the Bridget movies-and it looks like she’s stopped all the Botox.
Renee if you continue to stay away from the
Botox and fillers you may have just earned yourself a fan.
Squinty lost her squint!
I guess it looks good, but I LIKED her squinty. I thought she was almost unbearably cute before.
Now she looks sort of… generic. Pretty, but generic. I hope she’s happy with the result, though!
She reminds me of Sarah Paulson now. Anyone else get that vibe?
I’m getting more of a Robin Wright or a Daryl Hannah vibe personally…
I can’t reply directly to anyone on my phone, but agree with the folks who said she looks like Naomi Watts. I thought the header pic was Naomi!
And yes, maybe it’s possible she had the eyes done for medical reasons. My mother is looking into this–they really are impairing her vision at this point.
😯 looks like an eyelift and dermabrasion. stupid move.
her trademark WAS her whole squinty-eye deal. fail.
I believe the true reason she removed the squint is because she felt Leann Rimes and Eddie Cibrian should bask in all the squinty glory that she had enjoyed for years.
That last photo, wow. I would not have known it was her. Whatever work she had done though it does look natural, though making her look very different. But she doesn’t have that frozen face that so many celebs that have surgery do. She looks good.
She reminds me of someone… can’t think who, but she definitely does not look like ‘herself’.
While I accept that she may have needed to get her eyes fixed for medical reasons, she has lost her uniqueness. Renee was never a stunning beauty in the Charlize Theron or Kim Bassinger sense. Her squint was her ‘thing’. Now, as others have said, she just looks generic.
She looks good! A bit like Kelly Rutherford.
Kelly is all kinds of bad cosmetic procedures. She’s erased every bit of character ftom her face. The overall look is weird, not refreshed.
I think she looks good. She had good work done and she gained a little weight.
Don’t yell at me, but I honestly think she looks much more like herself circa “Jerry Maguire” now. It’s her older version, of course, with a bit of weight. I think she looks great!
Why do her lips always look chapped to me, like she needs some carmex
Who was it again who kept calling her Squinty? Well, she fixed the problem.
I hope that’s not why she did it. Surgery may have gotten rid of the squint, but this is not an improvement.
well, people are definitely talking about her now.
when you have blepharoplasty young don’t you usually have to have it done again after a few years? i think goop gets the procedure every 7-10 years but they don’t take so much lid off it is noticeable. i think a lot of celebrities have the procedure but some are more obvious than others.
am i the only one that thinks RZ washes her hair in urine? why does her hair usually look so dank and limp?
I think she looks great. Different yes. She really “had” to do this. With age, the almond shape of her eyelid had really begun to obscure her eyes. As an actress this was a problem since so much acting is done with the eyes. The eyelid problem was making her look increasingly weird. I’m really glad for her. Now we can she how lovely her eyes really are, truly the window on a beautiful soul. This is terrific.
Exactly. I remember the last time I saw her in an interview. I think it was on David Letterman. I literally couldn’t see her eyes. I don’t mean she had hooded eyelids like when she was younger. I mean I couldn’t see her actual eyes the hooding was so bad now. She was all squint and no eyes. And I remember saying to myself that in movies you connect with the eyes in showing emotion in movies as an actress and expressiveness in the eyes can move you in certain scenes in movies. I thought at the time her eyes had gotten so bad that she doesn’t have that ability as an actress anymore. Funny you mentioned the same thing I thought watching her that night. I think for red carpets and such they had to use a lot of things to lift them a bit so she looked okay.
I was thinking the same thing. Plus I believe that the eyelid problem had probably begun to block her vision too! I can think of nothing worse than to have droopy skin hanging down over my eyes so I don’t have my full range of eyesight! This surgery is more like correcting a birth defect. Good for her. People who don’t get this are foolish.
Her natural eyes were more expressive.
Sometimes they used too much fake eyashes or makeup to make them look bigger and it had the opposite effect.
There are other complications besides vision impairment, too – my husband is only 40, but he’ll def. have to have this done at some point – all of his family on his mom’s side have had it. One of the things that can happen is that you constantly get infections in your eyelash line due to the friction the sagging lid causes. It can be very uncomfortable.
I still can not believe that is RZ. She looks like entirely like a different person.
Shoot. She had her eyes done. They were so distinctive. I’m not against tweaking, but this is all kinds of wrong. She doesn’t look ‘refreshed’ or like a younger or better version of herself. She looks unrecognisable — in a bad way.
Catherine Zeta-Jones did the same thing recently, to the same effect (and she had big eyes already!). Her hooded eyes were sexy. Her news eyes look like they were taken off a doll.
Jack Lemmon was another who had this eyelid surgery and it made him look unrecognisable. I know hooded eyes can droop to the point where it affects a person’s vision, but is there no way to do a more subtle lift?
Hopefully Renee’s work will settle over time.
She may look good (compared to other celebs that got work done) but her squinty eyed look helped differentiate her from everyone else in Hollywood, and now she just looks like everyone else.
You know who she reminds me of? That guys Mitch Somebody who played Skinner on X-Files. His eyes look like this now after he had some kind of surgery.
Wow she is not aging well…….
She looks stunning, and her face actually looks less plastic surgery-ish than before.
Aside from the possible upper eye surgery it looks like the Botox/fillers are wearing off and her facial muscles aren’t fighting against nature anymore. I think she looks better now that she’s showing the hint of horizontal lines across her forehead that everyone past the age of 17 have. There is nothing sadder than a 40+ year old looking really tight and shiny.
She looks great and happy – good for her!
This is exactly why I will never get an eye lift.
She DEFINITELY had the squint fixed. Look how much more awake she looks! I like it. She didn’t jump of the surgery cliff like some of these ladies and she did just enough to make a difference. Not bad.
I can’t really see the surgery – it looks like she stopped the botox and isn’t wearing makeup – and looks like a mix of Laura Linney and Melissa Gilbert.
I don’t think she looks good. It actually scared me when I saw the pic the first time. She doesn’t look like herself at all. How can that be good?
Wtf happened to her??? OMG….
She looks like that homely woman from American Horror Story. Sarah Paulson?
She had a unique, interesting and pretty look before. Now she looks awful –the wide-eye thing is so fake!! Good Lord does anyone in HW recognize individuality as a good thing anymore?!
Eyes done, and probably botox in the mandibles to streamline her jawline.
She looks good, but not quite like herself!
I guess finding out that you’re consistently mocked for having narrow eyes takes it’s toll. If she were Asian it would be so inappropriate to do so, but since she isn’t, fair game. Where’s the next Kim Kardashian post. It’s big booty bashing time again. Yay!
Amazed anyone on here would think she’s “stunning” or “looks great”. She looks awful and not like herself anymore. It’s disturbing and will not help her career. Tragically, she looked fine before.
She looks lovely … BUT it’s her eyes which was her trademark! Without those eyes, Renee Zellweget doesn’t look like Renee Zellweger!
I don’t like it. She doesn’t look like Renee anymore. Chica straight up looks like Sarah Paulson.
I kept looking at the pictures to see what she had done to her face (it really is different!), and I think it’s just some removal of the skin above the eyes so her eyes aren’t so hooded. She also looks like she gained a bit of weight, as her face looks fuller.
Hmm… I don’t know. It’s such a minor thing, but it really does make her look miles different. I liked her squinty hooded eyes, that was part of her charm. I can’t imagine Bridget suddenly having such rounded eyes.
i think she looks more natural than usual
“(Protip: if you feel like flattering someone, tell them they look like someone famous. ”
I would apply that VERY cautiously. That may work with people who aren’t used to thinking of their appearance in positive terms OR people who have a weak self-image.
(N.B. None of these two is a priori “bad” – very few things are. It just is what it is.)
The last time I was flattered by hearing I resembled a certain famous actress I was fourteen.
In adult life, any such remark had the effect of diminishing (to my eyes) the person who said it.
I can understand if actors ‘refresh’ their faces but not when they completely change them. If they became famous with a certain face then why change that unique quality?
She used have droopy eyelids now her eyes are wide open. Very good work, it looks natural, the way it should be.
I am torn. I think she looks pretty and her eyes are nice and big. In fact her face looks more ‘relaxed’…and yet she is unrecognizable now, too.
They even poked fun of her squinty look in Me, Myself and Irene. The joke about how she looks like she is always sucking on a lemon lol now it doesn’t apply.
Finally! She had her eyes de-squintified! Smart move, they were getting to the point where I bet it was difficult for her to see, they were so squinty! Never thought she was a very attractive woman, and while she does look better, she doesn’t look like her anymore. It will be moderately interesting to see how this affects her career.
She looks pretty, relaxed. Her features have been softened, and not in a bad way, in a flattering “I’m super rested and relaxed” way. If it’s surgery (versus a little botox), this is how it should be done. Looking good, Renee!
The eye work is to distract you from the chest work….
She looks more like Robin Wright. But not in a good way. I don’t think it is an improvement at all.
Madness she’s lost her sexy edge whatever she had done she looks cookie cutter now not fugly but bland and boring. She will regret this as she won’t to be able to undo it to get the “It look” back.
She has lost that cute squinty look that was her trademark. It is not a good thing to loose the one cute physical attribute that distinguished her from all the other pretty ladies in Hollywood. I think she will loose work as she does not look like herself anymore. Still pretty though.
She looks terrible, her eyes are obviously done. She needed to lay off the Botox. Now she looks like everyone else. It’s too bad she doesn’t have self confidence in her looks.
This just a fail for me. I loved the uniqueness of her face and thought she was lovely. I tend to think of plastic surgeons as more butchers that anything else. I can understand correcting serious deformities but anything else is just too much for me. It seems like the uniqueness of a person is destroyed and a chance for real self-acceptance is lost. It also seems to be women who have the majority of plastic surgery, which grates on me. Until men are shoving themselves full of silicon implants, I don’t think the societal playing field is fair.
I struggle with not wanting to judge a person for trying to look/feel beautiful but still being upset with them for not having the strength to live in their imperfect body. I know it’s a judgement and I can only try not to judge harshly.
Men are judged on how successful they are, and women are judged on how beautiful they are. Neither have it easy.
I think she’s look great what ever she did, it’s not over done BUT does the woman own a set of tweezers???? I want to pin her down and shape those brows…good lord they drive me nuts.
Nope, she looks nothing like Renee. Just a generic woman and nothing special at all.
what a pity, I loved her eyes. they were special and unusual…now she looks very boring.
I feel like she looks pregnant.
I agree with the majority that this is an example of plastic surgery done well, but Renee is a movie star and this is just not good. For a civilian, this would be fine. For a film star, it’s just weird. Her whole identity has just been wiped clean.
Her squinty eyes had sparkle! She looks older now.
NONO: Where did I say that anyone has it easy? If fact, I’d say no one does, so I have no idea why that’s all you took away from my comment. I’d rather have a discussion about what problems either sex may face than reflexively say “Well, men have problems too”. Very insightful *rolls eyes*
You state that men don’t get as much plastic surgery, and that the “societal playing field” won’t be fair until they do. The logical conclusion to be drawn from those statements is that men de facto have it better than women do on the “societal playing field”. I’m simply pointing out that, that’s not necessarily the case.
She looks better now, but she didn’t need to do this. She is an Oscar-winning actress, and despite taking a break from movies, is still considered A-list. I wouldn’t recommend any established actress to mess with their face. That is their BRAND. It is what made their fans first fall in love with them. If they are unrecognizable, they are no longer who they were when they first became famous. Just imagine if Meryl Streep or Barbara Streisand were to get plastic surgery that made them unrecognizable. It would seriously damage their careers. Renee should have done subtle surgery to maintain some youthfulness, but she went overboard. Good plastic surgery is when people aren’t really sure you got it but they think you look really great as if you got a good spa treatment. It is so obvious that Renee messed with her face. It isn’t a secret.
NONO: I was talking about the de facto playing field of LOOKS. If you took that to mean I was talking about all of society’s hangups, you’re mistaken. That’s what annoyed the heck out of me. I wasn’t talking about men having no problems. I’m aware there are cultural stereotypes about men as well. I was commenting on the disparity of men and women having plastic surgery and the implications.
There’s no reply button for me directly comment to you for some reason.
Oh okay, understood. It’s unfortunate, but things are changing. The media’s quickly making men as insecure as women. 😉 Increasingly more are using make-up now, too. Sigh. That’s not the way I would have evened things out, but at least it’s moving in the direction of some kind of parity, right?
Are you using your phone? I think replies aren’t implemented on phones and tablets.
This is like the Jennifer Gray nose job. Still looks great but less recognizable.
She looked good before, she looks even better now.
no no no! She got an eye lift, and now she looks like Darryl Hannah!
Jen the Jeneric Hollywood lady. She’s cloned herself once again 🙁
well…her bf has a giant Man Perm and dye job, so she’s joined the freakshow apparently…so sad. I really loved her looks, fat girl brigit jones was my sHero…oh well….
no one has really mentioned epic shine to her skin, reflecting light! May have something to do with the way she appears in some photos..
These eyelifts are sometimes done due to medical/vision reasons. But her squinty eyes kind of ‘made’ her look! She does not look like Renee Zellweger!
She has suddenly Heidi Klum’s upper part of face. The lips are still the same tho, but it certainly doesn’t look like her.
Actually all she needs are some oil blotting papers 😡
Um….I wouldn’t have recognised her in that last photo without the heading. Methinks Renee has a few self-image issues.
This is really disappointing to me, Renee eyes were the unique feature of her face, that thing that made her stand out.
I don’t think she looks bad, but I too feel like her hooded eyelids were a trademark for her. I’m sad they’re gone. That being said, I have the same issue of hooded eyelids. I hate them, especially when I’m trying to apply eye makeup and I’ve flirted with the idea of having something done about it.
She was prettier before, her squinty eyes were her most charming feature. Case closed.
Are we certain this is Renee? I can’t believe how unrecognisable she is.
I just hope she didn’t do this because of other people. You should do plastic surgery only for yourself.
I always though Renee would eventually look like Dianne Wiest, who I believe still looks fab-so disappointed.
I don’t think it was done well because she no longer looks like herself. I agree she’s lost the unique, imperfect qualities that made her recognizable and set her apart from the Hollywood clones. It’s too bad. Looks like she also had cheek fillers (or implants) or something – there’s a lot more fullness in her lower face.
Look at Demi Moore – no matter how many jokes people make about all her plastic surgery, somehow she still manages to look like herself over the years. Her face is actually a lot less full than it was 10-15 years ago, which is what should be happening as you age. And it actually has normal contours, unlike all these puffed out, balloon faces. Cate Blanchett is another good example of a natural face, although I’m guessing (unlike Demi) that she actually hasn’t had work done. At 45, her face has normal wrinkles and contours (nasolabial folds, etc. – 18-year olds have them, so it’s weird when a 45-year old doesn’t!)
I think this could be a career changer for her, and not in a good way! Renee has always had a very distinctive look. She no longer has it. Yes… some may say she is prettier, but when it comes to being casted, they have so many beautiful woman as options. They would cast Renee because of her talent (obviously) but also her unique and distinctive looks. I predict this will be another case of Jennifer Grey. A woman who went from super successful, to nada after her nose job. She was prettier after the surgery, but she lost her distictive look… and was never cast again!
I think Renee looks amazing before and after.(if she did have work done) She is such a natural kind of woman. It is ironic that people were constantly slamming her for having “squinty eyes” and now they are slamming her for having less squinty eyes. Renee should please herself and ignore others’ comments on her appearance. She is talented, beautiful and by far one of the most down to earth and nicest actresses of her time. The time she spends helping others is commendable. I wish more actors/actresses were as generous,(and she doesn’t brag about it or try to draw attention to herself)
I think she stopped getting injections in her cheeks and relaxed the brows.
She actually now looks like how she did before all that surgery. ( Renee circa Jerry Maguire)
Rene is such a beauty! Great actress too!!