Reese Witherspoon Says She Keeps Busy to ‘Feel Less Alone’: ‘I’ve Been Trying Really Hard to Find Balance’

Reese Witherspoon got vulnerable in a conversation with Tracee Ellis Ross.

At the Hello Sunshine Shine Away event on Saturday, Legal blonde actress, 47, i Black-like The 50-year-old star had a candid conversation, in which Witherspoon revealed the real reason she loves being busy.

“I’ve been trying really hard to find balance outside of work,” she told Ross. “I’m a person who fills my schedule with busyness so that I feel less lonely or less nervous or less restless. Work has always been my bomb. And I started to realize that it wasn’t going to work for me.”

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Witherspoon went on to say that “about a year ago,” she “was a robot, and the robot broke.”

“I cried and cried. I think I texted you,” she said, fighting back tears, to which Ross replied, “I remember.”

The founder of Hello Sunshine continued: “I am. I texted Tracee. I said, ‘The robot has broken down.'”

“AND [it] I actually feel very vulnerable sharing that with you,” she added. “But I think it’s important that we hold so much for so many.”

Reese Witherspoon and Tracee Ellis Ross have a vulnerable, honest conversation at the Hello Sunshine Shine Away event on October 21.

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The Big little lies the actress — who announced her split from ex-husband Jim Toth in March — went on to reference a song written by her friend, Cleo Wade, about being “the glue in people’s lives.”

“Sometimes you’re the glue in everyone’s life, whether you’re at work, as a mom or a partner, but who holds you together?” Witherspoon asked. “It’s important to remember that you have to be the glue that holds you together.”

When she first read the poem, she said she “burst into tears, because I didn’t feel like I was taking good care of myself and I wasn’t asking other people for help.”

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During another panel discussion at the Shine Away event, Witherspoon talked about something a little lighter – what kind of stories she prefers to tell in her work.

The actress and producer said she has always been “obsessed with comedy and keeping things light and upbeat.”

“I’ve come to this realization, and I’m sure you’ll find this shocking: I’m not meant to do dark, heavy, intense, heavy horror films, gory, dark films,” she said. “People like to see me do light films.”

Witherspoon — who played dark, serious roles (Elections, Wild) and portrayed rom-com nobility (Legal blonde, Sweet Home Alabama) — admitted that her penchant for making “light” films might not get her a place in the “cool kids club,” but that doesn’t bother her.

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“I’m not interested. I don’t want to be in the cool kids club. I really don’t,” she said. “I want to make upbeat things that will make girls excited to be women in this world because it’s a wonderful thing to be a woman in this world.”

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Elsewhere during the conversation, panelist Jennifer Garner reflected on her strong friendship with Witherspoon and recalled that she Elections star helped her while she was “going through a very public, very difficult time in my life” during her pregnancy.

Garner, 51, didn’t specify the “tough moment” she was referring to, but did share her and Witherspoon’s experience of working out together, which she said helped her through the tough time.

“[Reese] she was there and the way I was supposed to get through it was dance cardio,” Garner said. “And I danced cardio so hard, we broke her foot, but she kept going! It was like, ‘Okay, we practiced at seven on vacation, we’ll practice again at two. She said, ‘I’ll be there. I will be there.'”

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Source: HIS Education