Reese Witherspoon is one of the most talented and hardest working women in Hollywood, and she has an important message to spread: ambition is not a "dirty word."
“I’m trying to take the stigma off the word so we encourage more little girls to be ambitious, because I do think that’s how society will change,” Witherspoon, who penned a recent article on the topic for Glamour magazine, said on “Good Morning America” today.
“We’ve done all these studies at Harvard and Columbia about women who have ambitious qualities are seen as selfish or self-serving, and it’s actually completely opposite,” she continued. “Usually they have a mission or a drive to help other people or accomplish something.”
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon will star on show about morning TV Take an exclusive 1st look at Reese Witherspoon in 'Home Again'The actress said she has a distinct memory of being asked in 3rd grade what she wants to be when she grows up.
“I said, ‘I want to be the first female president of the United States of America.’ I didn’t blink,” she recalled. “To my teacher’s credit, she goes, ‘I’m going to vote for you, Reesey.’”
That encouragement from an early age is something she is trying to foster in young women now herself, and with 20 projects in the works, she is leading by example.
Witherspoon spoke about her biggest upcoming projects, beginning with the highly anticipated film, “Home Again,” directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, daughter of the acclaimed film director, producer and screenwriter, Nancy Meyers, who is known for hits like “Something's Gotta Give” and “The Holiday.”
“My character is separated and she’s got two little kids,” said Witherspoon. “She doesn’t know what she’s going to do with her life, she’s got to move back home. She feels really untethered, and I think a lot of people go through that thing where they made a decision when they were 25 and they turn 40 and it’s not the decision that works for their life anymore.”
She said the film is a “modern comedy” rather than a romantic comedy.
“It’s really about a woman finding what the next chapter in her life is going to be,” Witherspoon said. “It’s a woman who’s defining her own life, and it has a little bit to do with romantic relationships, but that’s not the thing you end up with in the movie. "
“It’s about her being the hero of her own story,” she said.
“We have a new TV show we’re working on about morning news shows,” she said with a laugh as she grabbed the hands of the “GMA” anchors. “I don’t look like anybody on television and I don’t think I have anyone else’s personality. It’ll be interesting and it talks about modern life, and it’s me and Jen. We’ve worked together on ‘Friends’ and we finally found this project we could do together and we’re so excited.”
Witherspoon said the cast and crew are “talking about” the possibility of bringing the hit HBO show back for a second season.
“We had so much fun. Literally this group of women are my closest friends,” she said. “We’re thinking about it, we’re talking about it. There’s only one book and it ended where the show ends. We gotta get the writer to write another book.”
Witherspoon teamed up with Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling on “A Wrinkle in Time,” which hits theaters in March. She said Winfrey knows how to make a killer margarita.
“It’s the tequila,” the actress said of Winfrey's secret. “She gets really, really special tequila. I don’t know where she gets it, it’s one of Oprah’s favorite things.”
Despite her busy professional life, the mom of three is also keeping focused on her children. She is particularly excited for her daughter’s 18th birthday on Saturday, and can’t wait to give her a thoughtful gift expressing how proud she is of the woman she has become.
“We’re just going to out to dinner. She wants to be really quiet, but I have a special something I’m going to give her,” said Witherspoon. “I wrote a letter to her that I’m really excited about. It’s incredible to think back about all that time, and the things that they’ve learned and who they’ve become.”
The actress said as she was writing the letter, she was a “messy, sobbing, heap of a puddle of snot.”