Reese Witherspoon is opening up about the difficulties of being a working mom in show business.
On Thursday, the Oscar winner took to Instagram to answer a question about parenting her children while navigating a successful career in Hollywood. The actress shares daughter Ava Phillippe, 25, and son Deacon Phillippe, 21, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, and son Tennessee James Toth, 12, with her ex Jim Toth.
In a seven-slide post featuring photos with her children, the Legally Blonde star, 49, broke down several instances of how she juggled her ever-evolving career and being a present mother in her children’s lives.
Reese Witherspoon/Instagram
Reese Witherspoon with her son Tennessee
“Someone asked me what raising three kids and building a career in Hollywood looked like…It looked like spending a lot of time in trailers together,” Witherspoon wrote with a selfie of her and Tennessee smiling in a trailer together.
“It looked like always being on the road together,” The Morning Show star wrote alongside a throwback selfie with Ava and Deacon in the back seat of a car.
The next slide featured a screenshot of a text from Deacon in which he informed her that she “butt-dialed an Instagram live.” Witherspoon joked, “It looked like my kids constantly giving me career advice!”
In another slide, Witherspoon confessed that “it looked really hard sometimes.”
“I’d cry working 14 to 17 hours, sometimes all night long and still woke up early for carpool. I was deliriously tired,” she wrote. “It looked like trying to say something positive about work when I got home at night. So my kids would know that my work was meaningful to me and could be fun!”
Reese Witherspoon/Instagram
Reese Witherspoon with her daughter Ava and son Deacon
Witherspoon concluded the post with a final throwback photo of her with Ava, and wrote, “In conclusion, even though it was challenging at times, having kids gave me perspective about what was important in life.”
“Nothing was better than getting to come home and hug them and hear about their day,” she added.
Reese Witherspoon/Instagram
Reese Witherspoon with her daughter Ava
“Grateful to stand alongside other moms in this beautiful, messy journey.💕,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Tag the working mom who needs this. ☺️.”
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Witherspoon has often been vocal about balancing her work life with her personal one — especially as she expands her career beyond her acting credits.
Most recently, the multihypenate has been hard at work behind the camera with her Hello Sunshine company, which is producing Elle, Amazon MGM Studios’ new Legally Blonde prequel series. She will also return to The Morning Show for season 4, which debuts Sept. 17 on Apple TV+.
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