The resurrection of Renée Zellweger: Hollywood humiliated her, suffered a deep depression, survived and now returns in search of the Oscar
At 50, after having overcome a depression and endured criticism from the showbusiness about the changes in her face and figure, her role in “Judy” places her once again on the podium of the stars. The story of a woman who was able to fight against her own ghosts and the cruelty of the environment
"Hollywood is a whorehouse where everyone goes crazy," said John Cusak.
If that's true, you can understand why Renée Zellweger, the daughter of a Norwegian engineer and a Swiss nurse, decided on a six-year exile away from sets, cameras, screaming and screens.
It was not a small risk: sudden disappearances, many times, are a journey of no return.
However, it was not easy, for the seventh art business, to forget a face as beautiful as it was atypical, and so far removed from the aesthetic stereotypes of that world, as powerful and demanding as a second star king after the Sun.
Maybe they missed each other, they called each other in secret ... and Zellweger took the first step of Operation Return: he raised the curtain again on his extra kilos, his unforgettable blue and slightly slanted eyes, and his prominent cheekbones on the carpet of the Woman in Hollywood Awards.
It was October 2014, and none of it - so personal! - had survived. Those kilos flew to make way for a slim figure. All trace of wrinkles disappeared. The somewhat mandarin eyes ... they were less so. And even the unshakable cheekbones had yielded (though not entirely) to the scalpel.
The media, the people, the networks only talked about her appearance. They humiliated her, ridiculed her, made fun of her. Public scrutiny was cruel and relentless.
After two years, and after having endured the relentless harassment of the press, he decided to face the comments in a frontal and hard letter sent to the Huffington Post. She had already returned with the sequel Bridget Jones's Baby. It felt stronger.
“I don't understand why so much surprise and gossip. I changed my face and my eyes somewhat. It is not an event of national interest. However, even serious journalists - or taken for granted - made it a front page issue. It is very disconcerting. It reveals the frivolous but powerful social fixation for the body, the physical, to the detriment of what is really important ”.
What worried her was not that her plastic surgery was known, but that her story was used to highlight the values that governed women. “It is no secret that the value of women was historically measured by their appearance. Very skinny, very fat, aged, better brunette, with cellulite, a scandalous face lift, chubby or pregnant. Ugly shoes, ugly feet, ugly smile, ugly hands, ugly dress, ugly laugh ”.
And she talked about bullying. prejudices, equality and acceptance. “Perhaps we should debate more about why we collectively share an appetite to witness people humiliated by attacks because of their appearance and how it impacts younger generations. Perhaps we can discuss more about our many societal challenges and how we can do better, ”he concluded.
But several beauty experts put Renée under their indomitable magnifying glass. Verdict: "She also touched up her nose, stretched her eyelids, and applied botox to her forehead, which now looks smooth as a baby's."
And when did you talk about art? Late and little, forgetting that the colossal success in the film Bridget Jones's Diary forced her, in each installment, to change her appearance, and especially her weight. For the first, she had to gain weight… thirteen kilos! And learn the British accent. In addition, and depending on the case and role, her hair was blonde, black, long, short.
Already in this new stage, she opened up to the press: “My new face is one of happiness. My life is happier and fuller. I am healthy! I submitted to cruel, inhuman schedules, and I could not hide that crisis. But it ended…".
Mens? Not many, not so few. One of the first was Jim (of a thousand faces) Carrey, valid one year: 1999-2000. Then the musician Jack White: fleeting. In 2005, he married another musician, Kenny Chesney, and divorced five months later, requested by her, under the accusation of fraud. She had a long friendship, and more, with Bradley Cooper, and for six years she has been a partner of Doyle Bramhall, musician, guitarist and record producer.
In an extensive interview with New York Magazine, she explained that her decision to stop acting in 2010 had only one dramatic reason: she had fallen into a deep depression and needed to rest.
“My life was full of shadows. She was not healthy. I wasn't taking care of myself. I was the last thing on my priority list, "he was honest.
In a well of sadness, Zellweger turned to therapy for the first time in his life. The actress confessed that it was her therapist who helped her "navigate the emotions I felt during my retirement from Hollywood" in full success of her career.
"I recognized that I spent 99% of my life as a public person and only a microscopic crumb of a fraction as a real person," recalled the actress, who after her voluntary ostracism and at the age of 50 returned as the protagonist of the series Dilema (Netflix ).
“I felt like I was losing my identity. It was unbearable. A career in film has nothing to do with real life. It's a mask, just a mask… ”, she confessed, ready to face the press again.
What's more: she admitted that for her new return she did not choose the cinema. She preferred television, "because there is no longer a difference between the two, and sometimes the small screen exceeds the giant."
But the love for the cinema was stronger. And for this new bet on her eternal love, the choice could not be better: a biopic about the last years of the dramatic life of Judy Garland, who died of a barbiturate overdose in 1969, at age 47, after a life in the set (almost a prisoner along with her inseparable Mickey Roonie) and a long nightmare of depression, insomnia, and pill cocktails to stay on her feet.
What did those years do out of the spotlight of fame? Renée embraced the field in solidarity. She worked for charities that fight for the protection and defense of women all over the planet. In her case, "I spent a lot of time in Liberia developing a school program for young women." She also continued with her therapy, took trips that previously prevented her obligations, attended classes at the University of California, Los Angeles, and wrote a pilot for Lifetime, which although it was rejected by the channel, made her feel fulfilled.
Today, already sure of the place she wants to occupy, she uses a harsh and special word to define Hollywood: "Toxic!"
However, she will have, for a few days, to renounce the denial: her role as Judy is the winner of more than one award. After all, like Meryl Streep or Jack Nicholson, she belongs to the elite of the very few nominated three times, in consecutive years, for the Oscar: the golden calf of the capital of cinema. In her case, by The Diary of Bridget Jones, Chicago and Cold Mountain. All three, produced by the now Black Beast Harvey Weinstein, enveloped since 2017 by the poisonous cloud of harassment, abuse or rape on actresses in exchange for a free pass to success. Or supposed success ...
Asked about that grim case, Reneé clarified in a statement that “there was never an approach, nor did I feel like a possible victim. I came out unscathed ”.
Returning to Judy, she put herself in the body and soul of the tormented star during her last days of life in London, in which - although shattered - she displayed five weeks of exhausting concerts with sold out box offices. Titanic, and a litmus test for Reneé. Someone capable of flying over the rainbow (Over the Rainbow) ..., back and forth. Because there she sings again. Something he did with genius in the musical Chicago, 2002.
Believe it or not, despite so much positive news, she is still haunted by comments - some virulent; everyone stupid - about their cosmetic changes. But she answers them wisely: “Far from depressing me, they made me feel better. They made me learn a great lesson about what kind of woman I am. "
As for the suspicions of having given in to Weinstein's extortion in exchange for some roles, which every so often return to the coast, like the waves - and launched by the actress Melissa Sagemiller, one of the producer's plaintiffs - he adopted absolute silence after his statement, “because in Hollywood, to deny something is to be guilty and manipulative. To hell! I hope that somehow so much damage is repaired. "
What was said. Renée Zellweger. A woman capable of questioning herself, judging herself, and deciding that real life is more important than hidden by makeup and costumes. Although she continues to play what she knows best.
