Exactly 20 years ago, she teetered on to our screens as the bubblegum pink, seriously underestimated Elle Woods in the schmaltzy 2001 hit Legally Blonde.
In a classic case of art mirroring life, Reese Witherspoon, a southern belle who never seemed to take the world too seriously — on the surface at least — has been crowned the wealthiest and most powerful woman in Hollywood.
Thanks to the sale of a majority stake in her production company, Hello Sunshine, this week for £647 million, plus an influential book club that rules the U.S. bestseller list, a successful clothing line and an eye for a killer deal, she is said to be worth £287 million by Forbes magazine.
She has an Oscar, a picture-perfect family, a happy second marriage to talent agent Jim Toth and a delightfully close relationship with her wider family. Oh, and a crop of A-list besties, too.
And while she makes it look like a breeze to her 26 million Instagram followers, don’t be fooled.
Behind that ditzy facade lies fierce intelligence and work ethic that would make Hillary Clinton look like a slacker.
Here, we reveal how Reese showed the world she’s not just a pretty face.
Thanks to the sale of a majority stake in her TV company, Hello Sunshine, this week for £647million, plus an influential book club that rules the U.S. bestseller list, a successful clothing line and an eye for a killer deal, Reese Witherspoon (pictured) is said to be worth £287million by Forbes magazine
A FAMILY OF BRAINBOXES
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born in March 1976 in New Orleans and raised in Nashville, Tennessee.
Her mother, Betty, whose maiden name is Reese, has three degrees including a PhD in paediatric nursing and was a professor of nursing.
Her father John was a military surgeon and later became an ear, nose and throat specialist in private practice.
Witherspoon is on notably close terms with various high-powered co-stars, including Jennifer Aniston, and Nicole Kidman.
Reese Witherspoon posted this image with friend and fellow Hollywood star Nicole Kidman in June last year
She supported the Time’s Up initiative in 2018 and has also undertaken charity work, supporting breast cancer research, domestic violence survivors, teachers and those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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The family was proudly southern with a strong sense of responsibility and politeness, and Reese and her older brother John were raised as Episcopalian.
Her first four years were spent on a military base in Germany. In one interview she said that her parents called her ‘Little Miss Type A’ after her ultra-competitive, forceful personality.
WHEELER DEALER AT SCHOOL
Aged eight, she was suspended from school after running a business from her desk — making a profit by selling plastic hair clips that she hand-painted.
In her teens, she was sent to all-girl Harpeth Hall, where she became, in her own words, a high achieving, book-mad dork, who nevertheless made it to the top of the pyramid in the cheerleading team.
‘I was very opinionated, a little devious. I had a master plan. I might have tried to put beer in the Coke machine,’ she said.
‘I always tended to be outspoken with my opinions, whether they were appropriate or not.’
Not that everyone could see past the blonde hair and accent, which she added to her armoury: ‘Being a southern person and a blonde, it’s not a good combination. Immediately, when people meet you, they think of you as not being smart.’
A CLASS ACT FROM A YOUNG AGE
Her passion for acting was ignited when, aged seven, she was cast in a TV commercial for a local florist.
She went to weekly acting classes and her big break came when she was cast in the 1991 film The Man In The Moon, which attracted rave reviews. ‘It was the most magical experience and changed my whole life,’ she said.
She won a place at Stanford University to read English literature but left to pursue acting.
MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD
Reese met actor Ryan Phillippe at a party for her 21st birthday. Both were being hailed as promising young talents.
They were cast together in Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1998.
Reese Witherspoon pictured here after winning the 2006 Best Actress in a Leading Role for her appearance in Walk the Line. Here she is with husband Ryan Phillippe at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood
The following year they were married in a small ceremony when, only 23, she was six months’ pregnant with daughter Ava. Son Deacon was born in 2003.
Even as a young wife and mother, Reese was thinking big. In 2000, aged 24, she founded her production company called Type A Films — a nod towards her old family nickname.
Her breakout role, in 2001 movie Legally Blonde, started filming when Ava was only six months old.
‘I would spend most of the night trying to rock her back to sleep and then have to be on the set at 7am for make-up,’ she said.
‘Then you throw in the fact that I’m supposed to be playing a very bubbly and energetic California preppy who is smiling all the time.
She starred as Elle Woods in the schmatlzy 2001 hit Legally Blonde (pictured: The promotion poster for the film)
'I kept thinking, “I’m going to kill myself! I’m never going to make it!” But the energy of wanting things to be great is a perfectionist energy.’
THE MOVIE THAT MADE HER
Legally Blonde made Reese a star, sparked a long-running stage musical and a moderately successful sequel.
She played a fashion student who decides to follow her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School to try to win him back — before realising that she doesn’t want him anyway.
Critics raved about her comic timing. She ended up keeping all the clothes from the film — all pink.
FINDING HER MR RIGHT
The marriage to Phillippe didn’t work out. Reese blamed their relatively tender
