The changing faces of Renée Zellweger:  From fresh-faced beauty to THAT wide-eyed look, how the Bridget Jones star’s appearance has altered through the years amid fans’ questions over her Vogue cover snap

She’s set to burst onto screens once more this February as she gets back into character as the lovable but hapless Bridget Jones in the latest instalment from the franchise, Mad About The Boy.

But while fans are set to see some big changes in Bridget’s love life, over the years, fans have also noticed some changes to leading lady Renée Zellweger’s appearance too.

From a rounded, fresh-faced beauty to a slimmed down, chiseled-featured siren, Renée, 55, has undergone more transformations than her alter-ego has updated her famous diary.

The Hollywood actress recently graced the cover of British Vogue, where she was hilariously interviewed by long-time co-star Hugh Grant, 64, in celebration of the latest film. 

However, while several have hailed her cover photo – in which she rocks slicked-back cropped locks, dark lipstick and a tailored suit – as ‘stunning’ and ‘beautiful’, it has also left others questioning whether it was really her.

Taking to the comments, fans have speculated as to whether the image has been altered, remarking: ‘I love her, but damn that’s a whole lot of airbrushing’     

‘Please someone leak the non-altered photo’; ‘Doesn’t look like her at all’; ‘Make her look like Rene please’.

While others believe she looks more like model Gigi Hadid than herself: ‘At First Glance I Thought It Is Gigi Hadid’; ‘I guess we are back to retouching to the point where people think it is Gigi Hadid and not Renée Z?’

The Vogue cover photo has once again put Renée under scrutiny over her ever-changing appearance, with the star having displayed several different looks on the red carpet over the years.

Perhaps the most striking change was Renée’s appearance at the Elle Magazine 21st Annual Women in Hollywood awards back in 2014, where the beauty sported wider eyes.

The actress was quick to shut down plastic surgery rumours and instead credited her altered looks for living a more ‘different’ and ‘fulfilled’ life amid her six-year acting hiatus. 

She told the Huffington Post two years after the event: ‘Not that it’s anyone’s business, but I did not make a decision to alter my face and have surgery on my eyes. 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.’

She went on to insist: ‘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.

‘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.’

However, the actress’s statement did not completely quashed speculation that she may have turned to cosmetic beauty treatments to achieve her new look.  

Dr Alex Karidis of London’s Karidis Clinic, who has never treated Renée, told MailOnline at the time that he believes Renée may have had an upper eye lift.

He reasons: ‘the distance between the brow and her eye is much smaller than before.’

According to Dr Karidis, the then 45-year-old’s brows don’t appear to be higher than before, suggesting she hasn’t had a brow lift.

Karidis suggested her flawless forehead could be down to the use of Botox.

He said: ‘Her forehead is smooth – you would expect more expressive wrinkles when she smiles which indicates a possible small dose of Botox between the eyelid and eye.’   

Since taking Hollywood by storm in her breakout role in 1996’s Jerry Maguire, Renée has wowed both on and off screen – with her appearance talked about regularly over the years.

In the earlier years of her career, she was known for her rounder face, fresh-faced complexion, cat-like eyes and fuller lips – with the thespian often showcasing her natural features with a very light makeup look on the red carpet.

Later years have seen the star experiment with her looks sporting different makeup and hairstyles, while things like aging and weight loss have taken taking its natural toll.

Speaking in 2013 about her fluctuating weight for her role in the Bridget Jones’ Diary franchise, Renée said is fed up over constant speculation about her appearance. 

She told The Express: ‘When you read reports that you are starving yourself or that you are anorexic it’s very unfair and disappointing. It’s not very pleasant to read reports which say you’ve gone too far or this or that.’ 

While there’s questions over whether her Vogue shoot was altered or not, one thing that’s abundantly clear is that Renée is stunning and looks happier than ever – perhaps due to her great relationship with partner Ant Anstead. 

During her new interview, Renée made a rare comment about her relationship and shared how her romance with Ant influenced where she’s decided to live. 

The award-winning actress chatted with Bridget Jones’s Diary co-star Hugh Grant for the new issue of British Vogue.

‘I live in Southern California, near San Diego, because that’s where my fellow lives, and his little boy,’ she opened up, referencing her 45-year-old boyfriend’s five-year-old son Hudson.

Anstead shares the little boy with ex-wife Christina Haack, who is in the process of divorcing her third husband Josh Hall.

Ant is also shares daughter Amelie, 21, and son Archie, 18, with his ex-wife Louise Anstead.

Fans suspect that Renée and Ant are married as the UK-bred television personality has referred to his lady as his ‘missus’ in several social media posts.

Meanwhile, Renée opened up on her six-year hiatus from her acting career.

The actress famously took a step back from the limelight in 2010 following the filming of My Own Love Song and didn’t appear in a film until 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby.

In the chat with Hugh, Renée reflected on ‘needing’ to take a break from Hollywood and detailed just how exactly she spent her time. 

On why she took her hiatus, Renée shared: ‘Because I needed to. I was sick of the sound of my own voice. When I was working, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, listen to you. Are you sad again, Renée? Oh, is this your mad voice?”.

The film star went on to add: ‘It was a regurgitation of the same emotional experiences.’

When asked if she simply did ‘nothing’ during her time off, the Academy-award winner discussed how she spent her time, noting that she ‘got healthy’ while out of the spotlight.

She said: ‘I wrote music and studied international law. I built a house, rescued a pair of older doggies, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend, and spent a lot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs. I got healthy.’