Renee Zellweger: ‘I’m Glad Folks Think I Look Different!’

Renee Zellweger has responded to her headline-making change in appearance – and she feels great about her new look.

“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,” the 45-year-old star told People, responding to social media reaction to her look at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards in Beverly Hills on Monday.

The Oscar winner called talk about her appearance “silly,” but decided to respond because “it seems the folks who come digging around for some nefarious truth which doesn’t exist won’t get off my porch until I answer the door.”

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The actress explained that she’s making more time for herself and her health.

“My friends say that I look peaceful. I am healthy,” she told the mag. “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. Rather than stopping to recalibrate, I kept running until I was depleted and made bad choices about how to conceal the exhaustion. I was aware of the chaos and finally chose different things.”

That includes taking on projects that give her more freedom and time in her personal life, which includes boyfriend Doyle Bramhall.

Renee Zellweger and Doyle Bramhall at ELLE’s 21st Annual Women in Hollywood Celebration on October 20, 2014 in Beverly Hills (Getty)

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“I did work that allows for being still, making a home, loving someone, learning new things, growing as a creative person and finally growing into myself,” she explained.

Renee also suggests that possibly the public just isn’t used to who she is now that she is 45.

“People don’t know me in my 40s,” she said. “People don’t know me [as] healthy for a while, perhaps I look different. Who doesn’t as they get older?! Ha. But I am different. I’m happy.”

— Jesse Spero