Reese Witherspoon Reveals She Was Sexually Assaulted by a Director at 16

Hollywood Reporter ^ | 10/17/17 | Hilary Lewis

[Enlightened1]

The Oscar-winning actress spoke out about her experience at Elle's Women in Hollywood event Monday night.

Reese Witherspoon opened up about her own experiences with sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood during a speech at Elle's Women in Hollywood event Monday night.

The actress, who's been starring in movies since 1991, revealed she was sexually assaulted by a director when she was just 16 and said this wasn't the only time she'd experienced inappropriate behavior in her career, adding that she felt ashamed for staying silent.

“[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment,” Witherspoon said. “And I wish I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn’t. I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault and I don’t speak about them very often.”

Earlier she reflected on the past week, in which multiple women in Hollywood have come forward about experiences of sexual harassment and assault, including some allegedly by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

“This has been a really hard week for women in Hollywood, for women all over the world and a lot of situations and a lot of industries that are forced to remember and relive a lot of ugly truths,” Witherspoon said. “I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety, about being honest, the guilt for not speaking up earlier, for not taking action."

[MoochPooch]

Unfortunately, she’s shooting herself in the foot with this, as are all the actresses who have recently jumped onto the bandwagon.

Actresses have always had a bad rap. They are considered little more than glorified prostitutes. Now this whole debacle with Weinstein will place more negative sanctions on them. People will look at them and wonder, “Who did she sleep with to get ahead? How did she earn her Oscar?”

[Wuli]

where Reese was acting at 16

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104089/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_55

[Wuli]

where Reese was acting at 16

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104089/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_55

This was the director on the movie Reese did at 16:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855035/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

[Smellin Salt]

She’s so brave, coming out about it after she got her fame and fortune.

She would have been best served to keep her filthy mouth shut, like she did for all these years.

What a effing fool.

[Smellin Salt]

That’s exactly right, and they’re not smart enough to see it. They see themselves a some sort of heroes by coming forward now.

[yarddog]

She really was pretty.

[dangus]

Enough #MeToo ism. #NameNames

[SgtHooper]

Those three names should be pasted out front, and let them deny. After which she should then name the guilty party. None of them want to even touch this one.

[cicero2k]

What we are not hearing:

RW to teenage girls: “I had to compromise my integrity, sanity and self esteem in order to become famous. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.”

Or something like that.

Until RW and others make these kinds of statements...we will continue to believe it was worth it.

Instead we hear, in some cases, accounts of competitive pressure from other teenage girls. The other girls are to blame; and the (usually) male decision makers.

Women need to exercise solidarity in how far they will go, if you know what I mean.

[PAR35]

So she still won’t name names?

[Dante3]

Makes me wonder why she won’t reveal his name even at this time.

[pepsi_junkie]

Well, the chill that hit every other industry back in 1991 (thanks to Anita Hill) is about to hit Hollywood. Everyone will begin to be scared of being named (directly or by implication, as Witherspoon is doing with this statement) as a molester.

Fortunately, the solution is obvious. Go back to the Shakespearean way, only hire men to play women's roles. Problem solved. And actresses will no longer have to worry about being paid less than the male actors in the same film because actresses won't be in films anymore. Another problem solved! I'm on a roll!

[LottieDah]

“Where were her parents?”

Why would you or your parents want you to continue in a business where you sexually assaulted by a director? It boggles the mind that only did Witherspoon remain in the movie biz so did scores of others who were raped and assaulted. Why? Any normal person would have high tailed it out of Hollywood.

[x]

Any normal person would have high tailed it out of Hollywood.

Then the rapists/assaulters win.

[This I Wonder32460]

Men can be raped too, leading to ptsd and other mental illness.

[Hat-Trick]

Or, maybe a redesigned Oscar Trophy where with 2 hands/arms wrapping around from behind to squeeze the breasts.

Or, do the Oscar trophy with the See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil theme, because Weinstein was the worst kept secret in the entire town, and they (men and women alike) all went along with it for years, as long as there was something in it for them.

[minnesota_bound]

Reese Witherspoon still protecting the director so he can assault other children.

[funfan]

Thinking the same thing.

[righttackle44]

All right, all you guys. Shut up. The double-ugly one, Whoopi Goldberg, has excused all of this by saying that producer/director rape isn’t rape rape. It’s a director or producer just having fun and releasing his tensions.

[outofsalt]

Actress Reese Witherspoon has and estimated net worth of $80 million.