Renee Zellweger made headlines this week after photos from the Elle Magazine 21st Annual Women in Hollywood event went viral and caused a massive response from anyone with access to the internet. The Bridget Jones’s Diary actress hadn’t been seen on the red carpet for a few years, and several news sites shared the photos with captions about her being “unrecognizable”. Soon after, she decided to address the comments about her appearance, calling them “silly”.

“It seems the folks who come digging around for some nefarious truth which doesn’t exist won’t get off my porch until I answer the door….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,” she said in a statement to People Magazine.

While there’s been speculation that the actress may have had plastic surgery during her time out of the spotlight, she says the only change is that she’s a little older and happier.

“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 said.

Zellweger responded to claims last year that she had an eating disorder, saying the accusations were unfair. Her weight was highly speculated upon for a few years while she filmed the “Bridget Jones” movies, as she gained 20 pounds to play the witty Brit and then lost it quickly once shooting wrapped.

“It’s not very pleasant to read reports which say you’ve gone too far or this or that,” she said about the claims.

Though her last film role was in 2010, she can be seen next in The Whole Truth, which opens next year.