Why #ReneeZellweger was Trending Yesterday After Elle Hollywood Awards

Everyone was discussing Renee Zellweger yesterday. She was trending on twitter, her face was splashed all over the media and her's was the red carpet look that everyone was referencing.

And what a look it was. Her dress was demure, her hair was softly styled and her makeup was on the natural side. So why the furore? Well, she was unrecognisable. I looked at her photo and thought, this woman looks like a hybrid of Darryl Hannah/Laura Dern and Juliette Lewis and it wasn't until I saw the captions that I realised who it was.

And while some turned to derision, I felt a bit heartbroken for her. It's the curse of being an unmitigated empath. Sometimes I am first to see the humour in these things - like Nicole Kidman in those Jimmy Choo ads. And that's because it's the ad that is phtoshopped to feic, not the actual woman. But in this case that's exactly what has happened.

Now, if anyone told me what to do with my face, I'd tell them where to go. And Renee has every right to do the same. And actually she has. Describing conversations about her appearance as "silly", she told People magazine:

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. My friends say that I look peaceful. I am healthy. For a long time I wasn't doing such a good job with that. I took on a schedule that is not realistically sustainable and didn't allow for taking care of myself.

But that just doesn't add up. Her new 'look' happened between the 2013 Oscars and May 2013 - it just wasn't as noticeable on account of the fringe. Or maybe I am missing the point - maybe it's like the woman who saves up to get a boob job. I mightn't understand why she's done it but if she's happier then why the hell not?


I work with cosmetics for a living and yes, I enjoy seeing how they accentuate different features. But that doesn't mean that I'm trying to erase what I actually look like. Which is what Renee's changes look like to me. And as I write this, I have the unlikely wisdom of Groove Armada on loop in my head -  if everybody looked the same, we'd get tired of looking at each other.

And amen to that.

What did you make of Renee's new look? Do you think it reflects Hollywood's or society's expectations? Or do you say, good on her, it's her business and we should all just shut up about it? (And if you want to see who else was at the awards, we're made a nice little gallery for you below).