Reese Witherspoon is one of the most down-to-earth stars in Hollywood. The 44-year-old actress feels more like a mom BFF than a celebrity, and her fans love her for it. Reese is typically upbeat and optimistic, but on a recent podcast appearance, she opened up about a darker time in her life.
Earlier this month, Reese appeared on Jameela Jamil's I Weigh podcast. The two women came together for the episode after Reese shared her love for another episode, where Jameela and Lizzo had a frank conversation about body positivity.
During Reese's appearance, the usually bubbly Little Fires Everywhere actress opened up about some heavier subjects. She revealed that she's been in therapy ever since she was 16 years old. Reese explained her experiences with anxiety and depression. Reese also divulged how she had a different postpartum experience with each of her three children. She admitted to experiencing serious postpartum depression after welcoming one of her children.
Reese Witherspoon is one of the rare, universally adored stars in Hollywood right now. The 44-year-old actress not only has an accomplished body of work, but she genuinely seems like someone you'd want to be friends with. She's a bubbly, upbeat presence without being annoying or artificial.
Reese also isn't afraid to speak out on the things that matter. She recently opened up about some heavy subjects during her appearance on Jameela Jamil's podcast, I Weigh. Reese received an invite to appear on the podcast after her rave review of Jameela's conversation with Lizzo about body positivity.
During her own discussion with Jameela, Reese revealed that she's been in therapy since she was 16 years old. She was very candid about her mental health struggles and how they've evolved throughout her life.
"I definitely had anxiety; my anxiety manifests as depression so I would get really depressed," she said.
"My brain is like a hamster on a wheel and it won’t come off," Reese continued. "I’ve been managing it my entire life."
Reese also touched on the fact that her mental health struggles ramped up after having her first baby at 23 years old.
"I’ve had three kids. After each child I had a different experience," she explained.
"One kid I had kind of mild postpartum, and one kid I had severe postpartum where I had to take pretty heavy medication because I just wasn’t thinking straight at all. And then I had one kid where I had no postpartum at all."
Reese explained that a lot of her struggles resulted from the fact that no one talked about these experiences at the time. Not only that, but some of the knowledge we have today wasn't there because "hormones aren't understood."
"We don’t understand the kind of hormonal roller coaster that you go on when you stop nursing," she said. "No one explained that to me."
Reese felt very alone in those overwhelming feelings, and they took their toll. "I was 23 years old when I had my first baby and nobody explained to me that when you wean a baby, your hormones go into the toilet," she continued.
"I felt more depressed than I’d ever felt in my whole life. It was scary."
Reese wasn't sure what kind of help she needed or how to go about getting it. "I didn’t have the right kind of guidance or help, I just white-knuckled back," she admitted. She acknowledged that "there wasn’t the type of communication we have now."
"I think hormones are so under-studied and not understood," Reese noted. "I kept reaching out to my doctors for answers. There just isn’t enough research about what happens to women’s bodies, and the hormonal shifts that we have aren’t taken as seriously as I think they should be."
"I have deep compassion for women who are going through that," she added. "Postpartum is very real."
During the conversation, Reese also recalled seeing her grandmother stigmatized for her own mental health struggles.
"I would see her struggle, and the stigma around it really debilitated her," she recalled.
"She was punished within her community, her job, she was fired because she struggled a lot with anxiety and depression. I feel really fortunate that I am able to get help, at times that I've needed I've been able to take medicine, and it's something that I learned coping mechanisms around my entire life."
Reese also touched on another tough and embarrassing point in her life. She talked about the feelings around her 2013 arrest. Reese was arrested for a municipal charge of disorderly conduct after a defying a state trooper by getting out of the car while her husband, Jim Toth, was being given a field sobriety test.
"You apologized and shamed yourself in a way that was so [expletive] refreshing to me," Jameela told Reese. "I loved your apology."
"It was so embarrassing and dumb," she replied. "But you know what? [It] turns out I breathe air. I bleed the same way. I make dumb decisions. I make great decisions. I'm just a human being."
Reese's ability to be vulnerable is why she has become such a loved figure. She's open to admitting she's still figuring it all out herself, something we don't see very often from celebrities. Reese has proven to be an excellent advocate on a number of fronts, and most importantly, she advocates from a place of constant learning and growth.
