Did Renee Zellweger have surgery to disguise her ethnic roots?

In having a suspected eye lift, Renee Zellweger has eradicated a key facial feature of her Norwegian Sami heritage to look more traditionally 'European,' suggests a top professor of Finnish culture.

'The reason Renee used to be distinctive looking - with her narrow eyes and epicanthic eye folds - is because she is an unusual genetic mixture,' Edward Dutton, Professor of Finnish Culture at Oulu University in Finland, tells MailOnline.

'With a Swiss father and a mother who is part Kven and part Sami - ethnic minorities Indigenous to Norway, Finland and Sweden - Renee had a somewhat "eastern" face.'

Mr Dutton compares this eastern narrow-eyed look to that of Icelandic singer Björk - whose ancestry is Inuit.

'I suspect Renee has had plastic surgery which makes her look less Sami, less Kven, and more stereotypically North European,' argues Mr Dutton.

'She was so much more beautiful and interesting when she had the courage to be Sami and Kven.'

Mr Dutton points to another famous example, remarking: 'There seems little question that Michael Jackson underwent plastic surgery to make himself look more European, and Renee seems to have done exactly the same thing. How sad.'

Similarly, The Talk anchor Julie Chen revealed last year that she had cosmetic surgery on her eyes when she was 25 to make them look 'less Asian' as a young TV news reporter.