These are photos of Reese Witherspoon yesterday, in LA, showing off her little 3-month baby bump. She got pap’d shortly after Us Weekly released this week’s cover story, all about her pregnancy. It was later confirmed by People Magazine, who only got a confirmation from a “friend” not Reese’s rep. It still means that Reese is pregnant, but it also means that she’s playing some kind of PR game. And now that I’ve gotten a chance to read Us Weekly’s full cover story, I think I know what that game is. It’s along the lines of “My movies are bombing so I’m going to take some ‘time off’ and pretend that the time off is my choice, not that I’m doing crappy movies (and no one wants me for good movies), and after the baby I’ll have a big career COMEBACK!” Something like that:

A friend tells Us Weekly, “Reese and Jim were trying to get pregnant. This wasn’t a surprise… her kids are at an age where they are busy with friends and lives of their own… it will be nice for her to be able to do it all over again with her new husband.”

Jim Toth “really wanted a baby,” the friend says. “Before Jim met Reese, he wasn’t sure about having kids. Being around her kids has really shown him what it’s all about.”

A source calls Reese and Jim refreshingly normal: “They’re not a ‘movie star’ couple… Reese makes Jim and the kids a priority. They’re together a lot… Reese doesn’t like to travel for too long and be away.”

As for Reese’s relationship with Ryan Phillippe, a source says the three adults avoid drama. “They’re amicable,” says a Witherspoon pal. “Reese and Ryan have a great system. One week the kids stay with Reese and Jim; the next, they’re with Ryan.”

Reese has slowly started to spread her baby news to her inner circle, but for the most part, mum’s the word. “She not telling a lot of people, just close friends and family,” says a source. “She wants to have this child and take some time off.”

The time is right to take a break, considering her last three films – This Means Way, Water for Elephants, and How Do You Know – were box-office disappointments.

“She’s not getting great offers…she wants to relaunch her career completely and have Jim handle it.”

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

That’s very interesting, isn’t it? That Us Weekly story was epic, by the way. I only culled the most interesting quotes. First, “She not telling a lot of people, just close friends and family…AND US WEEKLY.” Because after reading that story, I know for sure that Reese and her team had a hand in it, which means that Reese and her team sold the story to Us Weekly under the auspices of “Make Reese look like such a down-home mother!” Also, I’m fascinated that Reese wants her husband to manage her post-baby career. That could either be the best thing that happens to her, or it will destroy their marriage (and her career). It all depends on whether Jim treats Reese like his wife, his equal partner, or if he treats like a temperamental actress in need of coddling. How do you separate those two issues if you’re Jim Toth?

PS… I’m in love with her boots. I want to have a relationship with those boots.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.