Renée Zellweger loves life in her fifties.
The two-time Academy Award winner, 53, spoke about aging in a new interview with The Sunday Times, revealing that she thinks anti-aging products are “garbage” and that women should “embrace your age”.
“All those ads telling us we don’t have to look our real age if we just buy all their creams and their fixes and all that crap they want to sell us?” said Zellweger. “I’m like, what, you’re saying I’m no longer valuable because I’m 53? Is that what you’re saying?”
The “Bridget Jones’s Diary” star – who told the publication she “couldn’t wait to turn 50”, insisted she has “no interest” in turning back the clock.
“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 that people have of you and become more authentically yourself,” she said.
Today, being “authentic” means spending a lot of quality time with her reality star boyfriend, Ant Anstead, 43, who she has been dating since 2021, promoting her new series “The Thing About Pam,” which premiered in the United States in March, but has just appeared on TV screens in the UK.
On the show, Zellweger plays Pam Hupp, a real-life woman who killed her boyfriend and co-worker in 2011 — and the actress has been criticized for wearing a thick suit to change into the role.
“Look, you want to be respectful and responsible,” she said of the plus-size bodysuit, adding, “There’s always a limit to how much you can establish an authentic approach without distraction.”
Indeed, the ‘Judy’ actress — who in 2016 denied having plastic surgery after rumors of her appearance — puts an emphasis on staying true to herself after leaving Hollywood for six years.
“Who redefines 50 or 60 without having to say, ‘Hey, look at me with my clothes off and I still look almost as good as I did then?'” Zellweger said. “I don’t want to be ‘almost what I was’. I want to be a thousand times better!”
While the “Jerry Maguire” star didn’t criticize treatments like Botox or fillers, she said, “Go get your hair done or have your skin repaired or go to the spa that day or whatever makes you feel good. But let who you are and what you contribute and how you represent yourself at that age be leading.”
She added: “To be alive and beautiful you have to embrace your age, otherwise you live apologetically and to me that is not beautiful at all.”
As for the younger generation, Zellweger has one thing to say. “Like, good luck to you all, suckers out there, because you have to survive a lot to reach my age, and I’ve earned my strength and voice.”