Reese Witherspoon is undoubtedly America's sweetheart. She is charming, funny. beautiful and talented AF.
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Reese Witherspoon Admits She Felt 'Guilt For Not Speaking Up Earlier' About Her Sexual Assault
While sitting down with "Morning Show" co-star Jennifer Aniston for a recent interview, the actresses opened up about sexism in Hollywood.
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Reese told The Gaurdian "We have to change the power structures. Just the fact that she and I are producing our own material, and things are starting to get better in terms of equal gender [representation] in rooms of power, that’s going to prevent a lot of workplace misconduct."
The first episode of the "Morning Show" opens with the male newscaster, Mitch, being fired from the show after sexual misconduct.
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The plot echos real-life Today show news anchor Matt Lauer, who was fired after accusations of sexual assault back in 2017.
"So now, instead of dancing around that subject, we were like, OK, episode one – there it is," says Reese, who plays Bradley, the newscaster brought in to replace Mitch.
Two years ago, Reese revealed she had been sexually assaulted by a Hollywood director when she was 16.
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She told the Gaurdian that she felt "guilt for not speaking up earlier."
"When stories [about assault and harassment] come out, I sometimes get really upset and it runs the gamut from sad to heartbroken to extreme anger," she admitted.
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"I think it probably drives me to tell more stories about it because art is the best antidote."
She continued, "I’m so grateful to the women who spoke out about things in their past because I’m in a different position, obviously, but those women had nothing to gain, and some lost their jobs over it. They are the real heroes in my mind."
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When asked if she wishes she had spoken up earlier, she responded, "Ummm no. It was a culture of silence and silence was a condition of my employment. That’s what I was told."
Moving onto the subject of Harvey Weinstein, both women recalled never being left alone in a room with him.
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"I was never alone in a room with him," recalled Jennifer.
"I was never alone with him either. But I didn’t know why," added Reese.
"Me neither. But always someone would stand in the room," Aniston echoed.
"Now I look back and I’m very grateful to those people who stayed in the room with me. What they knew, I don’t know," said Reese.
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