Reese Witherspoon is learning to navigate her new normal amid her divorce from Jim Toth.
“To be able to talk to people directly about what’s going on in my life and just share it in the way that I share great professional experiences or personal experiences, it feels much more authentic to be able to say things in my own voice and not let somebody else control what’s happening,” the Morning Show star, 47, told Harper’s Bazaar in a profile published on Wednesday, July 12. “Then, of course, there’s speculation, but I can’t control that. All I can do is be my most honest, forthright self and be vulnerable. It’s a vulnerable time for me.”
Witherspoon and Toth, 52, announced in a joint social media statement in March that they had called it quits after nearly 12 years of marriage.
“We have some personal news to share … It is with a great deal of care and consideration that we have made the difficult decision to divorce,” they wrote at the time. “We have enjoyed so many wonderful years together and are moving forward with deep love, kindness and mutual respect for everything we have created together.”
The now-estranged couple added that coparenting son Tennessee, 10, remains their “biggest priority” amid their separation. Witherspoon — who also shares daughter Ava, 23, and son Deacon, 19, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe — further detailed to Harper’s Bazaar how she’s been coping since revealing her breakup.
“It feels good,” she told the outlet. “I think about how many other people are going through this experience. I don’t feel isolated at all. I feel very connected.”
As news broke of the pair’s split, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the divorce process had been amicable.
“No one is blaming the other. Not yet anyway. Reese and Jim say they’re parting as friends and will continue to coparent,” the insider said in March, noting that Witherspoon is “trying to make sure” the split won’t “bring out the worst” in her and Toth. “They’re two adults who’ve been together for over a decade who decided to move on. At the end of the day, it was a mutual decision.”
While speaking about her divorce from Toth, Witherspoon compared the experience to her previous split from Phillippe, 48. “It’s interesting what happened to me,”she confessed. “When I was divorced before, the tabloid media got to tell people how I was feeling or how I was processing, and it felt very out of control.”
Witherspoon and Phillippe, who sparked a romance after costarring in Cruel Intentions, tied the knot in 1999. After seven years of marriage, the pair called it quits in 2006. They have since learned to amicably coparent Ava and Deacon.
“It’s a feeling-out process,” Phillippe previously revealed during a 2014 interview with Huffington Post. “I think we’ve gotten to a really great place. It’s going well … and our kids are incredible. I’m proud of the way we’ve handled it and who our little people are.”
