Reese Witherspoon is getting ready to celebrate her 50th birthday in a way that feels both personal and meaningful.
The actress turns 50 on March 22 and shared that she is planning a mother-son trip to Europe with her 13-year-old Tennessee, whom she shares with ex-husband Jim Toth.
She told me Harper’s Bazaar she’s looking forward to visiting friends in Italy and just “touring around a bit”, adding: “It’s just me and him – I’m excited about it!”
As she approaches a new decade, Witherspoon seems really comfortable with where she is now.
“I like getting older,” she said, explaining that she appreciates being wiser and settled in her career.
“I think it’s great to be wiser and understand your place in a company. I’ve worked really hard to get to that place… I definitely feel like I’m living my purpose. I love my job. I love my fans. I’m the captain of my own destiny.”
She also reflected on how young she became a mother and how challenging it was after the 1999 birth of her first child, Ava Phillippe, now 26. Witherspoon recalled dealing with intense postpartum depression.
“It was really bad,” she said, explaining that during Ava’s first six months she was happy but also deeply emotional.
“I was crying all the time, I was up all night, I was exhausted. It was a hormone drop that I didn’t expect, which I experienced right after birth and again when I stopped breastfeeding six months later.”
She noted how overwhelming it felt to have to deal with so many outside opinions in parenting. “Everyone has an opinion,” she said. “It’s overflowing.”
Over the years, her approach to parenting has changed, especially while raising Tennessee.
On The interview podcast, she admitted that she is “exhausted” after 25 years of motherhood. “I’m all wrung out and tired,” she said. Sometimes she even leans on her older children, Ava and 22-year-old Deacon Phillippe, for support.
“Every time I lose my cool,” she said, “I turn to my youngest and say, ‘You need to call your brother and sister. They’re exhausting me. I’m so tired. Like, eat the cookie. Go to bed late. Just do it… but think about how it will make you feel.'”
Even with the fatigue, Witherspoon seems to remain grounded and warm about parenthood. She laughed at how far she’s come, adding, “I’ve been parenting for 25 years.”
Between a milestone birthday, travel plans with her youngest, and a candid look at her journey through motherhood, the Morning show Star seems ready to step into her fifties with clarity, gratitude and a healthy sense of humor.
