&34;Nobody will want to go see that movie because nobody wants to see a movie about a mom,&34; the actress says she was warned, despite her being a mother at th

"Nobody will want to go see that movie because nobody wants to see a movie about a mom," the actress says she was warned, despite her being a mother at the time.

Reese Witherspoon was told not to play a mom in movies in her 20s and 30s: 'No men will desire you'

"Nobody will want to go see that movie because nobody wants to see a movie about a mom," the actress says she was warned, despite her being a mother at the time.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

EW's editorial guidelines

September 21, 2025 11:53 a.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Reese Witherspoon at 'The Morning Show' season 4 premiere in September 2025. Credit:

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Motherhood impacted Reese Witherspoon's career in more ways than one.

The *Morning Show* actress, now a mom of three, was in her early 20s when she welcomed her first child with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, and at the time she did not consider how it might alter Hollywood's perception of her. Looking back now, Witherspoon says that was probably for the best.

"There was so much I didn't know," she admitted in a *New York Times *interview published Saturday. "And maybe that naïveté was good, because it's like, 'Oh, I'll just do that and have a career.' And I did have a few people say to me, 'This is going to be really hard on your career.' There were roles I couldn't take. I had to have this immediate balance of family and career, being a mom and being a working actress."**

Reese Witherspoon plays a mother of two in 'Home Again'.

K Ballard/Black Bicycle/Kobal/Shutterstock

She added that Hollywood's resistance to motherhood wasn't just about public image, but also its potential to affect her work: "I was always being told by people in the industry: 'Don't play a mom. It'll make you seem old,'" she recalled. "And I was like, 'But I am a mom.'"

Witherspoon gave birth to her eldest child, Ava Phillippe, at 23 in 1999. She welcomed son Deacon Phillippe five years later. Then, while married to ex Jim Toth, welcomed another son, Tennessee James Toth, in 2012. All the while, she has not shied away for portraying complex women on screen — many of whom have been mothers.

Reese Witherspoon opens up about being a working mom in Hollywood: 'I was deliriously tired'

Ava Phillippe reacts to boyfriend being compared to dad Ryan Phillippe

"There was so much about our business that desexualized you, so you couldn't be a movie star if you played a mom. And thank goodness, that's sort of going by the wayside," Witherspoon said. "But that was a big part of when I was in my 20s and 30s: 'Don't play a mom. No men will desire you, or nobody will want to go see that movie because nobody wants to see a movie about a mom.'"

The warnings did not keep Witherspoon from portraying mother of three June Carter Cash in the 2005 film *Walk the Line* — which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress — nor from playing high-strung micro-managing mother Madeline McKenzie in *Big Little Lies*. In the 2017 movie *Home Again* she played a woman looking to rebuild with her kids after a separation, and in the 2020 miniseries *Little Fires Everywhere *a perfectionist with four teenagers. But Witherspoon has also admitted that as she got older, her career did take a hit.**

Reese Witherspoon in January 2025.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Chatting with the *Los Angeles Times* in 2020, Witherspoon revealed that she turned to producing in part because she wasn't seeing many opportunities available to women her age.

"I wasn't getting calls and I'm still not," she said at the time. "The phone's not ringing. If Nicole [Kidman] and myself aren't doing this work or Kerry Washington, Charlize Theron, and Margot Robbie, and Laura Dern... we're working hard to create a surplus. We have to give each other ideas and produce for each other, because no one's out there thinking of us first."

***Sign up for **'s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.***

The entertainment mogul founded her production company, Hello, Sunshine, in 2016 with the goal of "changing the narrative for women through story." Under it, Witherspoon has produced several successful projects, including* The Morning Show, Big Little Lies, Your Place or Mine,* and her upcoming *Legally Blonde *prequel show, *Elle*.**

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Movies"

Read More

---

Source: ShowBiz MAG

Full Article on Source: ShowBiz MAG

#LALifestyle #USCelebrities