Renée Zellweger slams anti-aging products as debunked plastic surgery rumors persist
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Renée Zellweger is having a good time and, more significantly, accepting how her body is changing. The 53-year-old actress, twice-nominated for an Oscar, spoke about growing older and encouraged women to "embrace your age" and claimed that anti-aging medications were "garbage".
"All those ads telling us we don't need to look our real age if we just buy all their creams and their fixes and all that garbage they want to sell us?" she said in a recent interview with The Times on Sunday, August 7, 2022. "I'm like, what, you're saying I'm not valuable anymore because I'm 53? Is that what you're saying?" the actress asked.
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The 'Bridget Jones's Diary' star emphasized that she had "no interest" in going back in time, adding that she "couldn't wait" to turn 50. "Turning 50 felt like a whole new beginning without the nonsense, the point where you can stop listening to all those voices in your head and all those expectations and projections people have of you and become more authentically yourself," Zellweger said.
The actress spends a lot of time with her reality star boyfriend Ant Anstead, 43, who she has been dating since 2021, in order to be "authentically" herself these days. She is also promoting her new show 'The Thing About Pam,' which began airing in the US in March and has only recently made it to UK television. In the series, Zellweger plays the lead character Pam Hupp, a real-life prisoner serving a life sentence after being accused of killing her friend and coworker in 2011.
The actress came under fire in 2021 after photos from the production of the series surfaced showing the actress donning prosthetics and a bulky outfit designed to make her appear larger. On social media, critics condemned Zellweger's "unrecognizable transformation," with some individuals labeling it "fatphobic." Commentator Sarah Alexander stated it could be "triggering to plus-size people" in a Metro.co.uk article.
When asked about the issue in her Times interview, Zellweger said, "Look, you want to be respectful and responsible. There's always a limit to how much you can establish an authentic approximation without being distracting."
"It was pretty much head to toe. It was prosthetics, it was a [padded] suit, it was the choice of clothing, it was the briskness in her step-step-step, her gait," she added. "All of those things were really important because all those bits and pieces are what construct the person that we project our own conclusions and presumptions onto," the actress further said.
Zellweger recognizes the significance of remaining true to oneself after spending six years away from the entertainment industry. She has a message for the younger generation. "Like, good luck all you suckers out there because you’ve got to survive a lot to get to my age, and I’ve earned my power and voice," she said.
