Reese Witherspoon covers the new issue of Glamour, and I might have to take back what I’ve been saying about Reese toning down her Oscar campaign. Reese has Oscar Campaign Talking Points ™ and she’s hitting them in every interview. Denying the “America’s Sweetheart” mantle? Check. Newly empowered Hollywood heavyweight? Check. Role model for her daughter? Check. Fighting for women everywhere? Check. Going on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment while making a movie about self-discovery and healing? Check. It’s getting sort of annoying. But still, we persevere. You can read the full Glamour piece here – she was interviewed by Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild. Some highlights:

She’s not your sweetheart: “I certainly didn’t self-identify as anyone’s sweetheart. I’m friendly, but I don’t think I’m sweet. I’m honest.”

Wild isn’t just about having no makeup: “I was scared of the really emotional scenes. I was scared of the sexuality. I was scared of the grittiness and of being bare on-screen. It’s not just about having no makeup on your face, like I did in the film. It’s about not being conscious of how you’re perceived, allowing yourself to be broken, the way she did so fearlessly in the book.”

Wild is about mothers: “My mom saw the movie with Laura Dern’s mother, and they held hands the whole time they watched the movie. Laura and I were talking about it later, and we realized that if we never said another word to our mothers about how important they were to us, we knew they saw themselves on that screen when they watched Wild. They saw how important they were in our lives.”

Mom lessons: “I’ll always remember these platitudes my mother said to me, like ‘Your job is your life insurance. Don’t ever let anybody take it away from you.’ This is so dumb, but the other day Ava said, ‘Well, Mom, you said that drinking water with lemon is good for my body.’ I burst into tears, going, ‘Oh my God, you listen to me!’ Parenting triumph.”

What she wants to teach her daughter: “To not be ashamed about any of her experiences. To live life fully, with curiosity and love, and to be brave.”

Becoming a young mom: “I was 23. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was young. It was shocking. When people ask, ‘When’s the best time to get pregnant?’ I say, ‘Pick the best day for when your entire life is gonna change.’ There’s no good time to have your world turned upside down…I don’t think there’s been an hour of my life since Ava was born that I don’t think of my kids. I call it my CNN ticker tape: Is Ava OK? Yes. Is Deacon OK? Yes. Is Tennessee OK? Yes. Back to Ava.”

Oprah-speak: “I don’t think I realized [in my twenties] that no one else makes you whole. You have to take responsibility for your own happiness. That took me until I was about 31 to know. It wasn’t easy to realize, Oh wait, I am purely responsible [for my life]—no relationship, no children, no nothing is going to make you a happy person. Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness.”

[From Glamour]

Our perception of Reese has changed so much since the American Citizen incident, and it’s difficult for me to actually remember how Reese was perceived pre-arrest. She was considered an “America’s Sweetheart” and I seem to remember her feeding into that, profiting from that perception a great deal. One particular incident that I remember: Reese at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards, receiving an award and taking that moment to shame women who made sex tapes or took naked selfies. She patronized the crowd – which included Blake Lively, fresh off of her naked-photo leak – saying that “It’s totally possible to be a good girl.” And this is the same Reese who tries to play it like she was never your good-girl sweetheart. Sure.

Photos courtesy of Glamour.