After almost a decade since the last instalment of Bridget Jones, our all-time favourite celeb BFF, Renee Zellweger returned to our screens in February and, oh how we’ve missed her!

Her return, however, did nothing to dampen down a decade of rumours that Renee, 56, has undergone plastic surgery, with her recent photo shoot for fashion bible Vogue leading fans to speculate that her suspected cosmetic procedures had gotten ‘out of control’.

‘A stunning lady that for some reason has been made unrecognisable?’ wrote one fan, while others added that her face appears ‘plastic’ and ‘uncanny’ – even going as far as to say the images had been generated by AI.

But last week, fans of Renee’s natural beauty will have breathed a sigh of relief when behind-the-scenes snaps from her new show, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, were published.

Sporting a short red bob and displaying natural forehead lines and a sprinkling of pretty crinkles across her eyes when smiling at a co-star, fans praised Renee as ‘oh so lovely’ and ‘beautiful’ – further noting that she ‘looks like herself again’.

Now an insider reveals that the reason behind Renee’s latest, more natural, look is her new love, Ant Anstead, 46, who they tell us is ‘turned off’ by too many Hollywood nips and tucks and loves Renee , just as she is…

The insider says, ‘To many, Renee is looking more ‘age-appropriate’ these days and letting her face fall back into more natural lines, and that’s something Ant definitely approves of.

‘It was him who totally shifted Renee’s mindset. He’s got a very different view on all the fakeness in Hollywood and actually finds it a big turn-off.

‘He tells her all the time that he loves her natural beauty and that she doesn’t need to do a thing. That consistent reassurance has gone a long way to undoing the toxic messages she’s gotten from people in the industry.’

Her role as ice-cream swigging, big knickers aficionado Bridget, who the world first fell in love with back in 2001, has always been both a blessing and a curse when it comes to the ever-circling speculation over Renee’s face and body.

With a size 14 reportedly being the average dress size of a woman in the UK, Bridget became the ultimate representative for single women nationwide in her hapless and humour-filled search for a Happy Ending.

However, in 2014, just two years before the release of the film’s third instalment, Bridget Jones’s Baby, her appearance on the red carpet of the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards sparked so much outrage from fans that she was forced to release a statement, in which she declared, ‘I did not make a decision to have surgery on my face and alter my eyes’.

In 2019 she described the scrutiny over her looks as ‘the hardest kick’ and admitted it had felt like ‘international humiliation’.

But after confessing at the time that she had been trying to ‘fit into some mould that didn’t belong to me’, the source now adds, ‘Because of the Hollywood machine Renee was made to feel really self-conscious about aging, even when she was in her 30’s she was being told that her time as a star wasn’t going to last long because soon she’d be ‘too old’ to get any good parts.

‘It was so demoralising, she felt like she had no choice but to try and keep up with all her peers who were doing plastic surgery.’

Her tumultuous love life has also been a source of constant rumours, having dated A-listers like Jim Carrey and Bradley Cooper, and having divorced country singer Kenny Chesney just four months into their marriage back in 2005.

Now there is no doubt that meeting and falling in love with TV presenter Ant Anstead when she appeared on his show Celebrity IOU Joyride back in 2021marked a huge turning point for Renee.

But they say it took a few choice words from Ant to convince her to tone down her look and we’re told, ‘She must admit she feels good about the way she looks now, and other people seem to be responding favourably as well.’

And the source says the confidence she now feels in her new relationship has led to Renee undergoing a transformation that has solely been about embracing her perceived ‘flaws’ within the fickle ‘rules’ of Hollywood.

They add, ‘She used to obsess over every little line and sun spot and bit of sagging skin, she was so critical of herself. But she’s working really hard at changing that kind of negative talk, she knows it’s self-destructive.

‘She still wants to look her best but now she’s more focused on healthy living instead of quick fixes. She’s not saying she’ll never do anything again, but she’s dialled it way back and is focusing on learning to love her natural face.’

These days Renee is just as likely to be seen in a baseball cap walking her rescue dogs in the park as she is on a red carpet, and the source says Ant tells her she is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’.

The source adds, ‘She wants to appreciate the skin she’s in instead of beating herself up all the time, Renee has made huge strides towards self-acceptance and there’s no doubt Ant is a huge part of that.

‘He loves her so unconditionally and thinks she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, not because she’s perfect, but because of who she is as a person, her heart is so pure.’