Here are some assorted photos of Reese Witherspoon out and about in NYC yesterday. She did an interview with GMA and a screening of Wild. She really, really wants an Oscar nomination, obviously, and she’s going full hustle for it. There is a question, in my mind, about this current Oscar hustle being something like a “comeback” for Reese. She’s not putting herself out there like it’s a “comeback,” probably because she doesn’t want people to think that she was ever at a low point. But she’s really hoping that she puts last year’s liquor-soaked arrest behind her.

It was last year’s arrest – and the fact that we could watch the whole video of the American Citizen’s utter meltdown – that really changed public perception of Reese. Still, I guess most PR people have told Reese that she’s back in the public’s good graces (because she’s blonde and sugary, obviously) and that she doesn’t need to change her behavior, even though it was perfectly clear that Reese and Jim Toth are both total boozehounds these days. Reese and Jim were even photographed boozing it up just days after their alcohol-related arrests. And over the past year, there are more and more stories about Reese’s alcohol-related shenanigans. Like this one, which has Reese getting hammered at a pre-noon charity event.

It may have been 5 p.m. somewhere, but it was only 11:45 a.m. when Reese Witherspoon started slugging wine at a recent charity auction in Los Angeles.

“When Reese arrived, she seemed uneasy and apprehensive,” an eyewitness tells Star, adding that the A-Lister seemed to loosen up once she had a glass of vino in her hand. “As Reese kept drinking ,she started to feel more comfortable and got a lot chattier.”

In fact, by the time the auction began, the actress was already on her second glass. “She was bouncing around in her seat and entertaining her table,” the source reveals.

In April 2013, Reese and her husband, Jim Toth, were taken into custody after being pulled over by a Georgia State trooper on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. But now that embarrassing arrest seems to be just a boozy bad dream. “She wasn’t falling down drunk,” the spy explains. “But she had nearly three glasses.” So much for walking the line!

[From Star Magazine]

Three glasses of wine at a charity event in the middle of the day? That’s so… 1980s. It feels dated, right? Like, that’s Mad Men-style drinking. When every businessman was half in the bag by 2 pm. As we learn more about health and alcoholism, it does seem like that kind of day-time social drinking is frowned upon more and more. Or maybe I just don’t run in the same circles as Reese. But seriously, how can someone down three glasses of wine at a luncheon event and not have the whole rest of the day blown? I would need a nap.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.