October 06, 2024
Reese Witherspoon is speaking about the importance of realizing that you have to make decisions yourself and “no one’s coming to help.”
Reese had to make big decisions both as a mother and a businessperson. The Morning Show actress became a mother for the first time at the age of 23, when she welcomed daughter Ava.
During her production company Hello Sunshine's second annual Shine Away event in Los Angeles on Saturday, Reese said that the thing about “Hello Sunshine is that we look for stories that women saved themselves," adding, "because every woman in this room has saved herself," either from a "financial situation, an education situation, a bad relationship, you had to save yourself."
"There's a moment in all of our lives when you realize, no wait, no one's coming to help, no one's coming to make that decision," she continued.
"For me, I have to make that decision. I've had a lot of those. Being a single mom when I was in my late twenties, I had to make a lot of decisions for my two kids and a lot of financial decisions, too," added the Big Little Lies producer.
Professionally, the Legally Blonde actress had an “a-ha” moment when she couldn't afford to pay four employees even after the success of her hit Emmy-winning HBO series Big Little Lies, and Oscar-winning movies Wild and Gone Girl.
Following that she “had to reach out for help, and that's when I had a friend help me create a business plan," she said.
She noted: "It's also good to know what you're not good at, and I know what I'm really good at, but it's also important to go, ‘I'm not good at something.’ "
Reese Witherspoon is mom to three kids, Ava Phillippe, 25, and son Deacon Phillippe, 20, as well as Tennessee James Toth, 12.