Christina Applegate and Rose McGowan are coming to Renee Zellweger’s defence after being criticised for her drastic change in appearance by Variety magazine.

In a piece titled, “Renee Zellweger: If She No Longer Looks Like Herself, Has She Become a Different Actress?” chief film critic, Owen Gleiberman, writes that he was “caught off guard the other day when [he] saw the trailer for ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby.’ The movie’s star, Renee Zellweger, already had her ‘Did she or didn’t she?’ moment back in 2014, and I had followed the round-the-world scrutinising of her image that went along with it, but this was different.”

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“Watching the trailer, I didn’t stare at the actress and think: She doesn’t look like Renee Zellweger. I thought: She doesn’t look like Bridget Jones! Oddly, that made it matter more,” he continued. “Celebrities, like anyone else, have the right to look however they want, but the characters they play become part of us. I suddenly felt like something had been taken away.”

As expected, Gleiberman’s argument was not well received online, where many attacked the writer for his sexist remarks and wondered whether a male counterpart would receive the same treatment. “I’m sorry. But this is highly offensive,” Applegate tweeted on Thursday. “Our faces change. My eyes are smaller. My nose is bigger. I have jowls.tbc.”

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The former “Married With Children” star went on to place herself in Zelwegger’s shoes and referenced her well-known character of Kelly Bundy. “But if I decided to play Kelly Bundy again, I would be her,” she continued. “Just different. Older, and wiser. Well, maybe not that.”

She added, “I have lines all over my face. You know what from? Years of laughing. And sun damage. That is a bitch.”

McGowan echoed Applegate’s sentiment with the following tweet: “You are a fucking idiot, Owen Gleiberman. Good hire @variety.”

“Way to contribute to the pervasive f***ed up-ness that is Hollywood @owengleiberman,” she continued. “And I fully hope and expect every movie I direct to get a terrible review from your archaic out of date white male dominated rag #variety.”

Zellweger has yet to respond to Gleiberman’s controversial article at this point in time.