Reese Witherspoon reflects on past abusive relationship that ‘diminished’ her spirit

Reese Witherspoon candidly shared she “had to rewire my brain” after leaving a past abusive relationship.

“You get into relationships that don’t work for you, and sometimes you don’t even see the dynamics that are happening,” the “Morning Show” star said during her Saturday appearance on the New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast.

“When I got out of that, it took me a while to reconstitute myself. My spirit had been diminished because I thought all those awful things that person said about me were true. I had to rewire my brain.”

Despite working through the trauma, the actress recalled still being “really insecure” long after the relationship ended.

“It took me a long time to be this woman that I am now,” Witherspoon, 49, continued. “It’s very hard to be a public figure. I have a lot of compassion for people who live public lives and maintain privacy.”

“It’s nearly impossible at this point, with everybody dehumanizing you, taking pictures of you like you’re an animal in the zoo instead of a person with their children. It was really hard, and being a mom and wanting to protect young people is hard too,” she added.

The “Sweet Home Alabama” star previously opened up about how she left a psychologically and verbally abusive ex in her 2018 interview with O Magazine

“A line got drawn in the sand and it got crossed, and my brain just switched,” Witherspoon said of the moment she decided to leave. “I knew it was going to be very difficult, but I just couldn’t go any further. It was profound and I was young, really young.”

“I could never be the person I am today. I was a different person too. It changed who I was on a cellular level. The fact that I stood up for myself.”

“I’m a different person now, and it’s part of the reason I can stand up and say, ‘Yes, I’m ambitious.’ Because someone tried to take that from me,” she said.

Witherspoon is currently dating German financier Oliver Haarmann. She was previously married to Jim Toth from 2011 to 2023.

Prior to her relationship with Toth, she was married to Ryan Phillippe, with whom she welcomed daughter Ava, 26, and son Deacon, 21, from 1999 to 2007.