(NOTE LANGUAGE) Reese Witherspoon has a theory why her reputation remained somewhat unscathed during her public divorce while Britney Spears‘ was nearly destroyed.
Speaking with Time magazine recently, the 45-year-old actress reflected on her 2006 separation with then-husband Ryan Phillippe — which is around the same time Britney announced her divorce from Kevin Federline.
Witherspoon remarked how she and Spears had similar circumstances, even the fact that they were raising two young children at the time, yet the media treated them like complete opposites.
The Morning Show star believes the reason for that is because she was labeled a “good” girl by the press, while Spears was considered “bad.”
“What if the media had decided I was something else? I would be in a totally different position,” remarked Witherspoon. “I want to say it’s my decisions or the career choices I made, but it felt very arbitrary. And kind of s****y.”
However, her squeaky clean reputation didn’t protect her from experiencing the same invasive treatment from paparazzi, as she revealed to the magazine, “My children will tell you stories about being in preschool and people climbing on the roofs of our cars.”
Things have cooled down since then, allowing Witherspoon to focus on making meaningful change in Hollywood.
One initiative, she revealed, was personally calling 30 Hollywood business leaders who didn’t hire a person of color or woman to serve on their boards. Witherspoon credits Shonda Rhimes for pushing her to lead the charge.
“There was something about Shonda believing that I could,” the Oscar winner noted. “I was proud of myself.”
That outreach effort resulted in her forging a close bond with several actresses, adding, “Whenever I feel discouraged, I have a group of women. We all text each other, and we’re like: Just keep going.“
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
