Reese Witherspoon talks early days in her career when sexism was rampant

Reese Witherspoon has been doing very well in Hollywood as she has sought out her own projects such as Big Little Lies.

But when the 43-year-old blonde beauty was starting out, she felt lonely.

‘I can remember being in pictures in which I was the only woman on the set and there would be 150 men,’ said the mother of three in the April issue of Vanity Fair. ‘Maybe there would be a couple of women in wardrobe. I remember when I was a kid I would find them and cling to them.’

She added, ‘Maybe there would be a couple of women in wardrobe. I remember when I was a kid I would find them and cling to them.’

Her first film was made when she was a young teen: Man In The Moon. 

In 2017 she admitted she was sexually harassed on a movie.

And in this new interview she reflected on that: ‘You tell your story in your own time when you’re ready,’ said Witherspoon. ‘… There wasn’t a public reckoning 25 years ago when this stuff happened to me. There wasn’t a forum to speak about it either. Social media has created a new way for people to express themselves that I didn’t have. That’s the great strength in power and numbers.’

She continued: ‘I think we have a lot of judgment and that’s unfortunate because we’re all tender-footed in these new times. We’re trying to find our identity.’

And she says she now feels the difference she has made in Hollywood as a producer and strong voice.

‘An actress came up to me at a party and said, “Do you know what you’ve done?” I had no idea what she was talking about. The day after the HBO equal pay thing went through, they called her agent to rewrite her contract. She was then paid twice as much as she had been,’ added the Wild actress. 

And Reese also told the magazine that she has found a sisterhood in Hollywood. 

‘You know, you meet people, you’re friends with people, but I say about a few women in my life, they are my sisters. I don’t have a sister and I found my sister in Laura. No one makes me laugh like Laura. She’s magical,’ she said of Laura Dern.

Witherspoon also revealed that as young girl she wanted to be a writer, if not a storyteller, an actor or singer.

‘I always wanted to be a writer. I think that’s why I’m in awe of writers because I’ve tried to sit down and do it,’ she told the April issue of Vanity Fair.

She added: ‘I have ideas for stories all the time. I could never figure out how things ended. I always have ideas about how things begin but I never know how they end.’

 Laura also talked to VF.

‘Reese is a miracle,’ Dern said. ‘She is the gold standard of what it means to be a champion. She has always been a champion of art, and other artists, as well as friends and family. 

‘But discovering how she will never stop until other women are honored for their voices and their skills with not only a seat at the table, but paid and paid well for it, is a rare marvel. 

‘Because of her, so many other women in positions of power have followed suit. As an only child, finding family has always been very important to me. And that I get her in both areas of my life—personal and professional—is an outrageous blessing.’