She gets by with a little help from her friends! Reese Witherspoon may come off as a strong, independent Southern woman, but she’s the first to admit that she relies heavily on her gal pals. In the January cover story of Glamour, the mother of three, 38, opened up about her close friendships, which include A-listers Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz.
“I am so, so lucky to have girlfriends who, when I was on the floor crying, upset about things that happened in my life, came over, stood me up, put me in the shower, put my clothes on, took my kids to school, brought me dinner. You know?” she said. “I love my girlfriends, and I protect those relationships fiercely.”
Witherspoon, who has been a mom since age 23 when she welcomed daughter Ava, now 15, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, admitted that her priorities have changed now that she has kids.
“I don’t think there’s been an hour of my life since Ava was born that I don’t think of my kids,” she said. “I call it my CNN ticker tape: Is Ava OK? Yes. Is Deacon OK? Yes. Is Tennessee OK? Yes. Back to Ava.”
In addition to her girlfriends, Witherspoon’s husband Jim Toth, whom she wed in March 2011, has been a guiding presence in her life.
“Well, I have to say a very healing part of my life is my wonderful husband, Jim,” she continued of Hollywood agent Toth, dad to her youngest, 2-year-old Tennessee. “It’s really wonderful being with somebody who supports me, who loves me, who is my number one fan. That is such an incredible experience. You have to be ready for those things. I had to be in a place where I felt all those things about myself.”
And though she may be Toth’s love, she doesn’t consider herself to be “America’s Sweetheart.”
“I certainly didn’t self-identify as anyone’s sweetheart,” the Oscar-winning actress, who was arrested in April 2013 for disorderly conduct, said. “I’m friendly, but I don’t think I’m sweet. I’m honest.”
Witherspoon thinks that most of her wisdom came with age. She married actor Phillippe in 1999 at age 23 before they endured an ugly 2007 divorce.
“I don’t think I realized [in my twenties] that no one else makes you whole,” she told Glamour. “You have to take responsibility for your own happiness. That took me until I was about 31 to know. It wasn’t easy to realize, Oh wait, I am purely responsible [for my life]—no relationship, no children, no nothing is going to make you a happy person. Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness.”