Reese Witherspoon became candid about becoming a young mom in the late 1990s while marrying her first ex-husband, Ryan Phillip.
“There were so many things I didn’t know,” and the “Morning Show” star shared on Saturday’s “Interview” podcast.
The actress, who was married to Philip from 1999 to 2008, explained that after giving birth to her daughter Ava in 1999, she had not realised the sacrifices she had to make in her acting career.
“And maybe that naivete was good because it’s like, ‘Oh, I just do it and have a career,'” Witherspoon (49) continued. “And I’ve had some people say to me, ‘This will be really difficult for your career.”
The Big Little Lies star explained that “the role (her) was not taken” by balancing “family and career, a mom and working actress.”
“That was scary when ‘Legally Blonde’ became a very big hit,” she mentioned the 2001 drama directed by Robert Luketic. “I wasn’t going to ask for parts. They were coming to me.”
Witherspoon claimed that she has become “scary” to choose and choose what she will invest her time.
The “Man of the Moon” star also shared that fellow celebrities warned her that they would “play mom” and “looks old on screen.”
“And I was, ‘But I’m a mom,'” she recalled. “There was so much in our business that we desecrated you, and even playing mom, we couldn’t become a movie star.
“And I’m grateful for the goodness. It’s like going on the roadside. But that was a big part of me when I was in my 20s and 30s. “Don’t play mom, guys don’t want you.”
The actress shared that when her close fellow Jennifer Aniston played her brother in the 90s comedy “Friends,” it was “really helpful” in helping her navigate her personal life and media early in her career.
Witherspoon reminds the cast, including Aniston, 56 and Courtney Cox, and is warm and open to a motherly journey.
“I remember bringing the baby, Ava. When I was riding ‘Friend’ in 1999, Ava was only three months old,” she recalled.
“And then Courtney and Jen came to my dressing room and knocked on the door and said, “I heard there was a baby!” I said, “I have a baby!” They said, “Can we see it?”
Witherspoon claimed that “kindness opened the door to asking many questions when (she) (she) broke up or when he truly went through a public divorce.”
The “legally blonde” star and Philip (51) are butlers of Ava, 26, and her 21-year-old son.
Witherspoon married her second ex-husband, Jim Toss in 2011. They welcomed their now 12-year-old son, Tennessee James, together before their divorce in 2023.
