Janine from The Handmaid’s Tale Looks Absolutely Stunning in Real Life

Though Madeline Brewer has earned her place as an in-demand TV actress — she even received an Emmy nomination for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale” — she was the target of a massive bullying campaign after appearing as the character Brontë in the final season of the Netflix show, “You.” Online commenters skw Brewer for her appearance, suggesting that the actress needed cosmetic surgery.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect people to like Brontë, but I didn’t expect them to call me ugly, because I’m not,” she told People in June 2025. She attributes much of the online hate to misogyny, admitting she was surprised by fan culture’s deeply embedded misogyny, even in the largely female fanbase for “You.” Despite the critics, Brewer remains among the celebs who have been vocal about avoiding plastic surgery.

But other fans seem able to make a more nuanced distinction between the inarguably gorgeous actress and the complicated character she portrayed. “She’s not bad looking at all, it was just how her character looked in You. The haircut, how she dressed, what she did, etc,” wrote one Reddit commenter. “She is stunning everywhere to me,” observed another Reddit commenter simply. “On You and in everything else I’ve seen her in. I wish people would stop being so nasty. The amount of hate she’s gotten is just not right.”