Tragic Details About Reese Witherspoon
The following article includes allegations of sexual assault and mention of mental health.
Few could have predicted how impactful a force Reese Witherspoon would become when she began her career as a teenager in the 1991 film, "The Man in the Moon." Witherspoon built her way up in Hollywood with roles in movies like "Fear" and "Cruel Intentions," and critic favorites, such as "Pleasantville" and "Election," then achieved global fame with her iconic performance in "Legally Blonde." In the years since, she has won an Oscar (out of two nominations), a Primetime Emmy (five nominations), a Golden Globe (six nominations), and many other honors. Though she has had flops, "The Morning Show" star's acting career has never been stagnant.
In addition to being a giant acting dynamo, Witherspoon is also the owner of a clothing brand called Draper James, a mom of three, and a full-on media mogul. She famously founded Hello Sunshine — a production company committed to centering women's stories — which was sold in 2021 for a whopping $900 million. The actor remains in charge of the company's daily operations, which is a great thing because she has a fantastic eye for finding great stories and bringing them to the screen ("Gone Girl," for example).
But, while she has reached incredible heights in her career, Witherspoon has sadly endured the gambit. Even with the star's legion of fans and a lengthy list of accolades, Witherspoon's life hasn't been a rose with no thorns.
She was sexually assaulted by a director when she 16
It is a sad fact that, for as long as Hollywood has been around, people in power have taken advantage of those with less. Many of these stories emerged during the widescale #MeToo movement of 2017, which saw the exposure of many industry predators including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Jeremy Piven. Though she opted not to name names, Reese Witherspoon was one of the many women, and some men, who spoke up about their experiences.
It was at Elle's 2017 Women in Hollywood event that Witherspoon first disclosed she had been sexually assaulted by a director when she was only a teenager. "[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment," she stated.
"And I wish I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn't," Witherspoon lamented in her speech. "I've had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault, and I don't speak about them very often." In an NPR interview, the actor discussed how she never realized how many people had similar experiences before the #MeToo reckoning.
She was forced to film a sex scene against her will
Intimacy coordinators have become more commonplace on Hollywood film sets to help oversee sex scenes and ensure the comfort of everyone involved. Intimacy coordinators not only help choreograph the scene, but they also serve as an important advocate for the actors by serving as a liaison between them and those in charge of production. "Many times on set, there is a power dynamic that exists, and it's very hard for an actor to say no when asked to do something," intimacy coordinator Marci Liroff told LAist. The usage of such an on-set coordinator has surged post-#MeToo, and SAG-AFTRA even established standards and protocols for their integration.
Reese Witherspoon came up in Hollywood decades before intimacy coordinators were a thing, and like many working actors, she has had some experiences where she felt disempowered and exploited on film sets. Take the 1996 movie, "Fear," for instance, in which Witherspoon plays a teenager whose boyfriend reveals himself to be dangerous. She was 19 when she filmed the movie, and later admitted that she was uncomfortable with a particular sex scene.
"It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen," Witherspoon recounted to Harper's Bazaar. "So that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no. It wasn't a particularly great experience."
During an unhappy period, she was super competitive and jealous
Hollywood is a place where people can easily adopt a dog-eat-dog mentality. Even when celebrities have no real beef, the media and the public oftentimes pit them against each other to try to amplify small disagreements or awkward moments. Reese Witherspoon has a reputation for being a strong advocate for women in Hollywood. But when she rose to fame in the 1990s, the tabloid media was at its most intense, and the actor was sadly sucked into the underlying toxicity of the culture.
While we never heard about Witherspoon publicly feuding with co-stars, she has affirmed that there was a period in her life where she felt quite spiteful toward other female actors in her lane. In a Harper's Bazaar interview, she detailed how isolated she was from other female actors when she was in her late teens and early 20s. This was before her big breakout films "Election" and "Legally Blonde," when she felt like there weren't enough female roles to go around.
"I was really unhappy," Witherspoon unveiled about her inner psyche at the time. "I was not seeing the abundance of opportunity." In the article, she described her younger self as "jealous" and "not supportive" of other women, particularly in instances where she lost out on big parts — for instance, in "Clueless" and "Romeo & Juliet."
She was terrified when she got pregnant at 22
Reese Witherspoon first crossed paths with actor Ryan Phillippe in 1997 during her 21st birthday party, and they were engaged the very next year. The pair married in June 1999, just weeks after their cult classic "Cruel Intentions" was released, and that September, welcomed their first child, daughter Ava (they also have a son, Deacon).
Witherspoon was only 22 when she got pregnant, and her career was progressing, but she was still on the up-and-up, which she admitted created an extra layer of fear. "To be totally honest, it was scary. I was scared. I didn't know what it was going to do to my job or my career," Witherspoon opened up in a video for the Hello Sunshine YouTube channel. Little did she know that "Legally Blonde" – which she started filming six months after Ava's birth — was just around the corner.
A large amount of Witherspoon's trepidation had to do with taking time off from Hollywood and the impact that a child would have on her future opportunities. "To be completely candid, I was terrified, too," she said on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in 2020 [5:25]. "I made movies, but I hadn't established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kid's school. I didn't have any real power or leverage within my industry, so I think I was just like every other mom trying to figure it out."
She didn't feel like she had support after giving birth
If the lead-up to having her daughter, Ava, was stressful for Reese Witherspoon, then we need a new word to describe the period after her birth. On numerous occasions, the actor has spoken about feeling like she was on an island after having her first child, without enough support and in a poor mental space.
Part of it was chemical, but Witherspoon was not prepared for her postpartum depression, which was far less talked about at the time. "I was 23 years old when I had my first baby and nobody explained to me that when you wean a baby, your hormones go into the toilet," she told host Jameela Jamil on her "I Weigh" podcast. "I felt more depressed than I ever felt in my entire life. And it was scary."
In addition to the biological factors at play, Witherspoon has also expressed that she felt unsupported during this time as a new mother. She once praised then-husband Ryan Phillippe for picking up the slack once she went back to work at six months postpartum, but has also described the early days before that as overwhelming. "I did not have a lot of support with my first baby and I learned really early, like this is not going to work," Witherspoon recalled on the "Armchair Expert" podcast in 2021. "I tried to muscle through for five months with Ava, just not sleeping and I became delirious."
She opened up about having anxiety and depression
Celebrities who have been real with the public about their internal struggles often do so intending to help remove the negative stigma around discussing mental health. Reese Witherspoon has been open about her mental health, revealing that she has had a lifelong dealing with both depression and anxiety. "I think I was 16 when I started therapy. I definitely had anxiety. My anxiety manifests as depression so I would get really depressed," the star said on the "I Weigh" podcast. "My brain is like a hamster on a wheel and it won't come off. And I've been managing it my entire life."
For Witherspoon, there have been some especially tough periods that left her totally distraught. "I've definitely had a lot of not sane moments in my life," continued on the podcast. "I've had a lot of like crying on the kitchen floor and my kids putting their stuffed animals on me going, 'It's going to be okay mom.'" In addition to crying on the floor, Witherspoon told "CBS Sunday Morning" that she also lets her tears fall in the car sometimes when she's feeling overwhelmed.
During her first divorce, the media was 'out of control'
Reese Witherspoon married Ryan Phillippe in 1999, and the couple quickly became one of the most rooted for couples in Hollywood. Despite their young ages, the pair always seemed to have a realistic view of marriage, and in 2002, Phillippe publicly disclosed they attended couples counseling. Witherspoon gave birth to son Deacon in 2003, and everything seemed relatively hunky-dory until the couple announced their separation three years later.
At the time, the press speculated that Phillippe's alleged affair with actor Abbie Cornish was the cause of the divorce, although Phillippe denied this. Witherspoon has been less vocal about the divorce, which was finalized in 2008, but the two have been asked about their relationship over the years. When they married, the actors were 23 and 25, had only been together for two years, and were expecting a baby. Both Phillippe and Witherspoon have said their ages were one reason why things did not work out, although you wouldn't have known it from the media circus when the news broke.
For Witherspoon, it was especially tough to be the target of such intense scrutiny while also not having control over the narrative. "When I was divorced before, the tabloid media got to tell people how I was feeling or how I was processing, and it felt very out of control," she confided to Harper's Bazaar. Despite all of the media hoopla, Witherspoon and Phillippe have managed to remain on good terms for their children's benefit.
She was deeply embarrassed by her 2013 arrest
Reese Witherspoon remarried in March 2011 when she walked down the aisle with talent agent Jim Toth at her ranch in Ojai, California. The couple had only been together for a year, but fans were excited by Witherspoon's second chance at love. Together they welcomed their son, Tennessee, in September 2012.
They were the picture-perfect blended family until the couple announced they were divorcing in March 2023. Let's rephrase — they were mostly picture-perfect because we cannot forget about their 2013 incident with the cops, wherein both Witherspoon and Toth were arrested. The police report and arrest video quickly leaked online, and many insiders speculated that Witherspoon's career was in big trouble. After all, the "Do you know who I am?" line she spouted at the cop did not really jive with her image as America's Sweetheart.
The ordeal began in 2013, when the couple was pulled over in Atlanta because cops suspected that Toth, who was driving, was under the influence. Witherspoon got belligerent with the officers, even exiting the vehicle despite being told to stay inside, and was charged with disorderly conduct, to which she pleaded no contest (Toth pleaded guilty to a DUI). Witherspoon has expressed both regret and deep feelings of embarrassment related to the incident. "It's just completely unacceptable and we are so sorry and embarrassed," she told "Good Morning America" shortly afterward (via E! News). In 2020, Witherspoon reiterated her mortification on the "I Weigh" podcast, where she called it "embarrassing and dumb."
She popped an ovary during a fight scene with Sofía Vergara
Reese Witherspoon has made some fantastic movies, but she has also made some clunkers, mostly during the aughts. Per Rotten Tomatoes' ranking of her filmography, Witherspoon's worst critical flop did not happen until 2015. That film, "Hot Pursuit," has a pitiful 8% Rotten Tomatoes score and is Witherspoon's poorest evaluated project. Considering that the movie grossed only $51 million worldwide on a $35 million budget and with a huge press blitz, Witherspoon probably wants to forget it ever existed.
Even filming "Hot Pursuit" was somewhat negative for the multi-hyphenate, thanks to a painful injury she suffered on set. The film, which Witherspoon also produced, featured the star as a rigid cop who is tasked with protecting an unpredictable drug boss's widow — played by Sofía Vergara – as the duo are chased through Texas by crooked cops and dangerous criminals.
The film featured a fight scene between Witherspoon and Vergara, and one take went so poorly that Witherspoon ended up in the emergency room. "I push her and I push her and I kept telling her I think I'm pushing you too hard and she was like 'No, do it real,'" Vergara recalled on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." Though Witherspoon originally left set thinking that her appendix had burst, she learned that the force from Vergara's pushes actually popped one of her ovaries. Had she not sought medical help, the injury could have been fatal due to the internal bleeding.
She had panic attacks before filming Wild
Reese Witherspoon has taken some big swings in her career, exploring different genres and bringing to life some truly iconic characters, including Elle Woods, Tracy Flick, and Madeline Martha Mackenzie. A few of Witherspoon's biggest roles have seen her playing real-life individuals, such as her Oscar-winning turn as June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line."
Cheryl Strayed, who wrote the book "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail," is another real person that Witherspoon tackled for her 2014 film, "Wild," but that time, she experienced a lot of distress in the lead-up to filming. Witherspoon earned many accolades for her performance, including an Academy Award nomination, but the role certainly was a personal challenge for the seasoned pro.
According to an interview Tracee Ellis Ross conducted with Witherspoon, published in Interview, her anxiety spewed from her respect for the story and, especially, from the unique challenges of the role itself. "There was the nudity, sexuality, and drug-use aspect, but also being alone on camera with no other actors," she said. "I hadn't ever been alone in scenes for days and days. There were probably 25 days of the shoot where I had no other actor opposite me. It was just me and a camera and a backpack." Witherspoon was so unnerved that she experienced panic attacks for three weeks leading up to filming, even undergoing hypnosis to try to calm herself.
Her beloved dog died of cancer in 2020
Reese Witherspoon is known for a number of things, like her chipper demeanor and her slight Southern twang. Fans are also very aware of some of the actor's loves, including books, fashion, and the city of Nashville (where she grew up). Witherspoon is also a known animal lover, famously naming her many dogs after famous folks.
The "Big Little Lies" star has a French bulldog named after Minnie Pearl and a Labrador named after Hank Williams, plus an American Bulldog, Lou, and a Labrador, Major. Her past pets have included an English bulldog named after Frank Sinatra, a Frenchie named after Coco Chanel, and her beloved German Shepard, Nash. Whereas Nash seems to have passed somewhat expectedly due to his age in 2019, her other beloved pup, Pepper, battled an aggressive illness that cut her life short and devastated the actor.
Like all of Witherspoon's pups, Pepper was heavily featured on her social media, from its Instagram debut in 2016 up until her untimely death in 2020 (one year after Nash's passing). "My goodness, she was such a loyal and devoted family member. I am so heart broken, but I am also deeply grateful for all the love and comfort she brought our family," Witherspoon posted on her Instagram upon Pepper's passing. The star's daughter, Ava, uploaded her own tribute (via Page Six) that detailed Pepper's cancer, which progressed rapidly and took her life within only a few months.
Her marriage to Jim Toth didn't work out in the end
Reese Witherspoon has been married twice, with her second marriage to Jim Toth lasting a handful of years longer than her first marriage to Ryan Phillippe. Three years after her divorce from Phillippe, the star wed Jim Toth in 2011 with hopes that he would be her forever person. Unfortunately, the couple split up in 2023, days before their 12th wedding anniversary.
"We have some personal news to share ... It is with a great deal of care and consideration that we have made the difficult decision to divorce," the pair announced on Instagram. The duo finalized a divorce agreement in August of that year, by which time Toth had already been spotted vacationing with his new girlfriend. While her ex may have moved on within months, Witherspoon did not bounce back as easily.
Reports claimed that the pair had been having trouble for a while, but that they gave it their all before deciding upon divorce. Still, insiders reported that Witherspoon was quite distraught by the dissolution of her second marriage. "Reese is obviously disappointed and upset. She never saw herself getting another divorce," an unnamed insider told People. "They are two very different people though. Reese is headstrong and focused. Although very hard-working, Jim is more laidback." To deal with what she described to Harper's Bazaar as a "vulnerable time," Witherspoon opted to scale back on work a bit to have some time to breathe.
She overloaded herself with work amidst her second divorce
Divorce may have been the reason why Reese Witherspoon decided to decrease her workload and increase her leisure time, but it is obvious from all of her endeavors that she has been in a "go, go, go" mode for quite a long time. However, the added stress of her marital split caused Witherspoon to overload herself to the point where she reached a breaking point. "I'm a person who fills my schedule with busyness, so that I feel less alone or less nervous or less unsettled," she told the crowd at a Hello Sunshine event in October 2023 (via SheFinds). "I was a robot, and the robot broke." Witherspoon eventually had a moment wherein she "cried and cried," which forced her to reevaluate her work/life balance.
One thing fans love about Witherspoon is her openness, and she got very real with those at her event when she discussed seeking to find balance in her life amidst the chaos. According to reports, the actor teared up as she initiated the conversation, in which she also acknowledged coming to the realization that she was not taking very good care of herself. The discussion was poignant and meaningful, but not easy by any means. "It actually makes me feel very vulnerable sharing that with you all," Witherspoon said, while also noting the importance of discomfort and vulnerability (via the New Zealand Herald). And don't fret too much, because considering the very large amount of future acting and producing projects listed on her IMDb, Witherspoon is not pulling back too much.
If you or anyone you know is in crisis, or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:
- Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).