Actress Rose McGowan has no time for men in Hollywood criticizing the looks of women in the industry.
In a scathing op-ed piece for The Hollywood Reporter, the 42-year-old calls out Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman for his story on Renée Zellweger and the trailer for her upcoming movie Bridget Jones’s Baby. It’s the third film in the franchise and the actress’ first flick in six years.
“In the case of Renée Zellweger, it may look to a great many people like something more than an elaborate makeup job has taken place, but we can’t say for sure,” he wrote. “What we can say is that if that happened, it reflects something indescribably sad about our culture. For in addition to being a great actress, Zellweger, as much or more than any star of her era, has been a poster girl for the notion that each and every one of us is beautiful in just the way God made us. It wasn’t until Bridget Jones’s Diary, five years later, that she hit her stride by finding a role that jelled with her image as an extraordinary ordinary girl.”
He goes on to debate whether the 47-year-old star had plastic surgery (Zellweger never said she did), and wonders if her new “look” makes her a different actress, and thus somehow not as watchable.
READ MORE: Renée Zellweger’s looks under scrutiny in bizarre film-critic article
In the takedown, McGowan opens up about the harassment and bullying she’s experienced during her time in the industry, and calls out Gleiberman for being “an active endorser of what is tantamount to harassment and abuse of actresses and women.”
She goes on to say: “I speak as someone who was abused by Hollywood and by people like you in the media, but I’m a different breed, one they didn’t count on.”
“Renée Zellweger is a human being, with feelings, with a life, with love and with triumphs and struggles, just like the rest of us. How dare you use her as a punching bag in your mistaken attempt to make a mark at your new job. How dare you bully a woman who has done nothing but try to entertain people like you. Her crime, according to you, is growing older in a way you don’t approve of,” she wrote. “Who are you to approve of anything? What you are doing is vile, damaging, stupid and cruel. It also reeks of status quo white-male privilege. So assured are you in your place in the firmament that is Hollywood, you felt it was OK to do this. And your editors at Variety felt this was more than OK to run.”
The former Charmed actress goes on to call on all of Zellweger’s colleagues to defend the actress.
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“Any studio that Renée Zellweger has made money for, any co-star she’s supported or anyone who takes a percentage of her income should be doing what’s right: They should be calling this harassment out.”
READ MORE: Why Renée Zellweger took a six-year break from Hollywood
Earlier in the week, McGowan, alongside fellow actress Christina Applegate, showed support for Zellweger on Twitter. (WARNING: Some foul language below!)
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/749034280488095744
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/749035034229633027
https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/749035381874528256
Gleiberman has not responded to any of the public criticism, and has not attempted to clarify the point he was trying to make in the article. You can read it in its entirety here.
– With files from The Associated Press
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