Even Reese Witherspoon has moments of fear and doubt, but the actress says she’s come up with a way to combat those bad feelings when they bubble up.
“I see as this little creature that lives in my life all the time, and I can either pay it attention and not get anything done or I can march ahead and ignore it,” the A Wrinkle in Time star told Marie Claire for its March 2018 issue.
“Sometimes I just have to jump two feet into a cold pool and go, ‘OK, I believe in myself enough, I know I work hard. I know I can always bet on myself,’” she added.
Witherspoon, who recently revealed in an emotional speech that she was sexually assaulted by a director at 16, also spoke about the women’s movement currently sweeping Hollywood and beyond.
“It shouldn’t just be about financial success,” she said. “We should have as many opportunities to fail as we do succeed. Because artistry is not about succeeding always. It’s about having the courage to try and put out into the world new ideas.”
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Including her highly anticipated role in A Wrinkle in Time, Witherspoon has 23 projects in the works in 2018. “I’m excited about the project with Jen Aniston,” she said. The series will be one of the first shows produced by Apple, and both actresses are also serving as producers.
“It’s a show about women in media – the morning news in particular,” she added.
The drama series is Aniston’s first major return to television since Friends, and is Witherspoon’s first television project after starring in the Emmy-winning limited series Big Little Lies on HBO. The show also reunites the duo after Witherspoon’s guest role as Aniston’s sister on Friends.
Also in the works is a film based off the book The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe. “Zendaya and I are producing a movie on a book I brought to her called The Gilded Years,” she explained. “It’s about the first African-American woman who graduated from Vassar. It’s important to go back in time so that my daughter’s generation and Zendaya’s generation realize that these were hard-fought wins for humankind and that the brave people at the center of them were women and people of color.”
A Wrinkle in Time opens in theaters March 9.