Who knew this skit would come back and haunt Reese Witherspoon? Back in January, three months before her disorderly conduct arrest, the 37-year-old actress was among the slew of A-listers to guest-star on a star-packed episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live — in which Matt Damon hijacked the proceedings (even having Jimmy Kimmel bound and gagged) to take over the late-night show. In a funny routine, the America’s Sweetheart star — looking harried — meets Andy Garcia outside the NYC studio carrying several recyclable grocery bags.
Damon cajoles Witherspoon to join him, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman on the stage. Bonding over the October 2012 birth of her third child (son Tennessee), father of four Damon asks the actress to reveal the contents of her grocery bags. “Baby formula?” Damon guessed.
“Yeah, probably, I don’t need to get into . . . ” Witherspoon says reluctantly. Finally giving in, she unloads her groceries: bottles and bottles of hard liquor, including one empty bottle of tequila. “You know, I bought some Hennessy . . . Cuervo.”
She explains in her defense to fellow Hollywood moms Kidman and Adams: “I am a working mother, as you know, Nicole, Amy . . . It was a long time between dropoffs!”
Back in June 2011, Witherspoon also nodded to her perennial good girl image while accepting the MTV Generation Award at the MTV Movie Awards. “I just want to say to all of the girls out there: I know it’s cool to be bad, I get it, alright?” explained the perky blonde.
“But it’s also possible to make it in Hollywood without a reality show. When I came up in this business, if you made a sex tape, you were embarrassed and you hid it under your bed. And if you took naked pictures of yourself on your cell phone, you would hide your face. It’s totally possible. So for all the girls out there, it’s possible to be a good girl. I’m going to try to make it cool . . . “
The Oscar winner had a different kind of statement to make late Sunday after news of her startling arrest alongside husband Jim Toth (arrested for DUI) in Atlanta last Friday. “I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said,” she said of an ugly exchange with her arresting officer. “It was definitely a scary situation and I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job.”
