Getting candid. Reese Witherspoon revealed that she was “scared of everything” in her twenties in the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
“I’m much more open now,” the cover star, 39, told the mag. “In my twenties, I was scared of everything. I didn’t know what my career was. I didn’t know why people liked my movies. I was wary of interacting with people.”
The Oscar winner said that, although three of her biggest films were released during her twenties, she was terrified and unable to enjoy her success.
“I was 25 when Legally Blonde came out, 26 for Sweet Home Alabama, and 29 for Walk the Line,” the mom of three said. “And I was scared, really scared.”
Witherspoon discussed the turning point of shedding her fears, and how it related to the kinds of roles she had been accepting.
“There was a point, around 2011, there were like five actresses that I admire very much and they all called me and said, ‘There’s this role of this girlfriend in this movie,’ which was kind of just a terrible movie,” the blonde beauty said. “And we’re all kind of clamoring for this terrible part? We are so much better than this.”
It was her 16-year-old daughter Ava who inspired the A-lister to take on more challenging roles and to be more selective.
“I certainly can’t star in all these movies,” she said. “I want to get a female perspective on film that would make my daughter understand what it means to be a woman in a different way.”
The Wild star said that as she turns 40 this in March, she’s never been happier.
“Now I feel like a different person,” she exclaimed. “It’s a great thing getting older. You are who you are; you say what you mean. It’s almost like my brain is hardwired to collect information and do things. I used to do very little with it, and now I’m being more productive, which feels good.”
As for how she’ll celebrate her birthday?
“You know, live music, eating, kids,” she said. “I wanted to hike Machu Picchu. But then I was like, ‘Wait, I did enough hiking last year.’ I’m done with hiking for a minute.”
Read the full interview at Harpersbazaar.com.
