Renée Zellweger made headlines in October when she attended the ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards. The actress looked different than she did the last time she was widely seen by the public, and boy, did the Internet want to talk about it ad nauseam. But, Zellweger told People, she's perfectly content.
"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," Zellweger said. She also told People that she found the outcry over her new look "silly." "Perhaps, I look different. Who doesn't as they get older? Ha. But, I am different. I'm happy," she concluded.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Zellweger's response was more on the zen side of things, but her peers were less accepting of the negative responses to her appearance. At this year's roundtable with the actresses most seriously in contention for Oscar nominations, The Hollywood Reporter asked the panel about the attention Zellweger received.
"It's horrible. It's crude and disrespectful, and I can go on and on. It bothers me immensely," Reese Witherspoon said.
"What's sad is when people start to self-censor and start not doing things because they're worried what X or Y is going to think about it," Felicity Jones added.
"I know this is so Pollyanna of me, but why — and it's particularly women — why do they have to tear women down?" Witherspoon asked. "And, why do we have to tear other women down to build another woman up? It drives me crazy. Like, this one looks great without her makeup but that one doesn't look good without her makeup, and it's all just a judgment and assault that I don't — look, men are prey to it as well. I just don't think it's with the same sort of ferocity."
Preach, Reese Witherspoon. Preach. (The Hollywood Reporter)