I love this photo because that’s not how you read a book!!!! If only. If only people read books in the middle of a field, one shoulder dropped provocatively as you stare sexily into the camera lens. So reading. Much literature. Anyway, Reese Witherspoon covers the December issue of InStyle Magazine, for reasons. Let’s see… what are those reasons? She did voice work in Sing, the animated film about singing animals (Reese voices a pig named Rosita). She also will appear in the HBO miniseries adaptation of Big Little Lies in February, which she also produced. Plus, I suspect Reese agreed to this cover profile because it was done as a “conversation” with Dolly Parton, one of her heroes. But isn’t Dolly everyone’s hero? Here are some highlights from Reese’s interview:
She’s always loved Dolly: “When I was probably 5 years old, I wanted to be Dolly Parton. I was skipping around the blacktop at school by myself, and my P.E. teacher said, “Why aren’t you playing the game [with the other kids]?” I said, “Well, I’m not going to play the game because, Ms. Wright, I’m going to be Dolly Parton when I grow up.”
On choosing who to work with: “I think that’s another good part of getting older. I’ve realized that life is too short to spend my time with anybody who doesn’t appreciate me, treat me with respect, or bring value to the relationship. I’m much more confident now, and I feel like I have the ability to say, “Nope, I don’t want to work with that person.”Draper James & making clothes for the flyover states: “It’s a new chapter for me starting a business, going around passing the hat, and promoting it all over the place. It’s a different experience, but I’m enjoying learning something new. I’ve been acting for about 25 years, and I still love it, but I like the challenge of trying something else too. I find there are a lot of people talking about New York and Los Angeles, but there’s a whole world out there in between, and that’s who I like to tell stories about and make products for – people who love the life they have and have a sense of style that’s uniquely their own.”
Learning a new business: “I think that’s a good lesson for young women: No one knows what they’re doing. You walk into boardrooms with these executives — they don’t really know anything more than anybody else. You have to put yourself out there and just give it a try because who you are and where you’re from offers a unique perspective that everybody needs.”
On being a working mom: “I’m just trying to hold on, trying to make it through. My older kids help with the little one. It’s nice to have a big family… My mom worked, and I think it’s good for kids to see women working and being successful. I think it’s going to make them hard workers because they see that I don’t get much sleep. But I love what I do. I want them to grow up with passion. This is the one life you get, and you have to live it to the very end.”
The “choosing who to work with” thing is interesting, and I wish she had done it in a more blind-item fashion, like “guess who I’m talking about when I say I’ve had some really horrible co-stars.” My guess is Vince Vaughn, because they did that stupid Christmas movie together about a decade ago and they reportedly hated each other. But I’m sure Reese has hated other costars too. As for what she says about “no one knows what they’re doing” in corporations or boardrooms… like, I understand what she’s trying to say, that women should feel like they belong in those predominantly male spaces, and they should be given the leeway to learn on the job like men. But I think “no one knows what they’re doing” is also a terrible message to send young women and young men. It’s okay to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, but a lot of people actually do know what they’re doing.
Photos courtesy of InStyle.
‘No one knows what they are doing’ is so much truth though. We each have our areas of expertise, but for the most part we are all just figuring it out as we go along. I actually think this is really important to acknowledge – I think its important to challenge the myth that the people making decisions are experts and/or know what they are doing. Often the people in charge are there as a result of talents including but not limited to networking and learning on the job.
At least that is my experience in academia – when I was an under grad I thought the TAs (grad students) knew all. As a grad student it was the doctoral researchers that I thought were clued in. As a doctoral researcher I thought it was the post-docs – and so it goes. Now, many years into an academic career I’m starting to realise we are all literally just forging stuff out day by day (and I sit on more than one board, and our decisions impact real people’s lives every single day).
I agree.
To me, it speaks to the idea that to get to that kind of echelon of business, the people in charge are there because they know who to schmooze and how to work the system, not because of some kind of expertise. The folks who actually know what they’re doing are too busy actually working.
Or maybe I’m just a cynic.
+1,000,000
Bridget – I have to say that is probably true, at least in part. It’s the people who work for the head honchos that do most of the leg work – however many of the people who make it to the boardroom table have legitimately worked their way up – that however doesn’t mean they know everything and mostly just that they are/were very good at one specific thing which enabled them to move up.
As someone who sits on boards, everyone in that room knows exactly what they are doing. Boards are legally liable for corporate finances. It is a serious job, not a hand out to the best schmoozers.
Shes totally giving me Kirsten Dunst vibes in that fake book reading picture. She seems very meh, not sure how else to describe her.
Yes, I got a Cameron Diaz or Kirsten Dunst vibe, something I couldn’t put my finger on. Then I looked closely and I believe it’s the way they photoshopped her chin. No?
Ha ha coming from the corporate world…CAN CONFIRM! HEADLINE is TRUE! hahaha
Donald Trump didn’t know what he was doing.
(sorry…couldn’t resist, it’s a Theme day)
I was a board member for a few years for a non-profit organization. The headline is true.
She’s not wrong. Also, she’s giving me serious Cathy Moriaty realness in that last picture. A little arch, a little haughty with a hint of Bless your heart southern bitchery.
I’m a Draper James customer and I live in a “flyover state.” Hate her all you want, but her clothes are well made and made in the US. So she’s already one up on Donald.
She comes across very arrogant. Not just her arrest but also this year, when she complained about how Wild, a film she produced and starred in, didn’t get nominated for Best Picture and blamed it on sexism. She’s learned nothing from her embarrassing arrest and is still just as egotistical as ever, especially since Wild wasn’t nearly as acclaimed as she made it out to be.
Not wanting to work with someone is not bad but how she said it made her out to be entitled. Not everyone will appreciate you, Reese, but there have been many successful times when an actor hated a director’s or another actor’s guts but they all still produced good work. Get over yourself.