Reese Witherspoon is the cover girl for the October issue of Marie Claire. The cover is much, much too pink, but I really like the black-and-white pictorial. Considering she doesn’t have a movie coming out, I think she just got the cover to talk about her work with Avon, and how she’s The New Reese. The New Reese went into effect earlier this year, around the time everyone figured out that she could no longer carry a movie and defend her $15 million-plus paychecks. All of a sudden, Reese seemed to want to change up her image from the oh-so-wholesome single mother/America’s sweetheart (who couldn‘t carry a movie). She kept up the appearances at church, of course, and she got engaged to Jim Toth. But she did some sexier pictorials, began talking up her desire to break out of the rom-com mold, and then she started hanging out with Chelsea Handler, and she made some remarks at the MTV Movie Awards that I found rather patronizing. Oh, and Reese’s entire honeymoon “somehow” got pap’d too, which is weird considering Reese weeps mournful privacy tears when she’s photographed, even when she sells her wedding photos in America and the UK. I kind of wish she had stuck to her old image. Here are some highlights from the interview (full piece here):
Public speaking for Avon: “I’m scared to speak in public,” she says. “I’m really nervous about it. It’s weird, because on a movie set, I’m fine. But I get really nervous in front of crowds.” When she accepted this job [as Global brand ambassador for Avon] four years ago, she says, “I used to shake when I talked at these conferences.”
Fears: “I used to not ever travel,” she says, gazing out at the spires of Red Square. “I’ve gotten over so many phobias. Five years ago, I was terrified to travel. I was scared to leave my kids.” She smiles. “It’s still not the best feeling. But this is an opportunity to turn the spotlight on something that’s important to me.”
On confidence: “I always had a lot of confidence when I was younger, and then I think I got a little nervous in my 20s,” she says. “But now I feel better. Now I’m in my 30s, totally better. A little more confident again. Not as scared.”
The divorce from Ryan Phillippe: “I was hard on myself when I got divorced. And until I got remarried, I don’t think I realized how stressed I was,” she says, referring to her marriage this past March to Hollywood talent agent Jim Toth. “I feel so much relief. I don’t think I recognized how anxious I was about being a single parent. It was really, really stressful. It’s not easy on anybody. I think Nora Ephron says in one of her books, ‘You know, don’t kid yourself, divorce is really hard on your children. It’s really hard. Children will not be better for it.'” Witherspoon reflects on that last statement. “I mean, there are extenuating circumstances. I’m sure everybody’s life is different, so I shouldn’t say that. But it’s really traumatic. Now I feel a great sense of relief and an incredible amount of support from my husband.”
More on Jim Toth: “You know, somebody close to me once said, ‘Oh, no man will ever accept your children.’ And I just thought it was the most horrifying thing someone has ever said to me in my entire life,” she says, a slight Southern lilt emerging. “I was determined to find somebody who would make that not true. And I got lucky. I did. I got very lucky, and he’s wonderful. And so wonderful with the children. I’m very blessed.”
[From Marie Claire]
I don’t have any problems with this interview – she’s showing off her “vulnerable” side, and I think she’s probably being very honest here, especially about her worries when she was a single mother. I think Reese is a good mom, but I’ve often wondered if she’s a bit too high-strung, a bit too tightly wound. What happens when something snaps?
Photos courtesy of Marie Claire.
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