News feed
You can’t hide anything from Oprah Winfrey.
The actress, media magnate and sadly non-US presidential candidate knew something had happened to Reese Witherspoon after seeing her reaction when the Harvey Weinstein expose first broke in the New York Times in October last year.
“This was like two days after the Harvey scandal had broken,” Winfrey told actress Salma Hayek during a special live taping of her podcast SuperSoul Conversations, according to Entertainment Tonight.
“Everyone, including Reese – I’ve said this to her – was acting like, I was seeing some of the girls at my school behave, who were suffering from PTSD.
“Everybody was acting like they were afraid and they were having the conversation,” Winfrey explained.
“And I remember Reese saying, ‘Oh god, this is just so upsetting. And someone mentions his name, I start tearing up. And every time I hear someone else speak, it just causes me to be upset and I haven’t slept in two days,’ ” Winfrey said.
“So I said, ‘Jeez, you guys are suffering from PTSD. Did something happen to you?’ Nobody said anything at the time.”
Months later, Reese would reveal she was sexually harassed by a director when she was 16-years-old, and also suffered through an abusive relationship.
In an interview with A Wrinkle In Time co-star Winfrey in O Magazine, Winfrey asked her “What’s the most difficult decision you’ve had to make to fulfill your destiny?”
“For me, probably leaving an abusive relationship,” the 41-year-old said, explaining she suffered both “psychological” and “verbal” abuse.
“I drew a line in the sand, and it got crossed, and my brain just switched. I couldn’t go any further. I was really young, and it was profound.
“It changed who I was on a cellular level, the fact that I stood up for myself. It’s part of the reason I can stand up and say, ‘Yes, I’m ambitious,’” she explained.
“Because someone tried to take that from me.”
Reese is married to Jim Toth, who she has a four-year-old son with.
Prior to that relationship, she married her Cruel Intentions co-star Ryan Philippe, who she began dating at 21 and had two children – Ava and Deacon – with. They announced their split in 2006.
