Reese Witherspoon Shares What It’s Like to Raise a Daughter on Your Own Despite Being Married, and Gives Advice to All New Moms Out There

Motherhood is an experience that can change a woman’s life forever. And, in this process, the purest and most beautiful feelings can arise, but also the hardest ones to understand. This is precisely what happened to Reese Witherspoon, who, in a recent interview, explained how complicated it was for her to become a mother at the age of 23 and to face raising her first child almost alone, despite being married.

Bright Side was moved by this inspiring story, so we want to share it with you.

A young married couple

Reese Witherspoon met Ryan Phillippe while celebrating her 21st birthday and confessed that, when she met the actor, she told him “you are my birthday gift,” a phrase she is now a little ashamed of. In 1999, a year after the proposal, they married and welcomed baby Ava, who arrived in September.

Becoming a mother at age 23

The couple’s first daughter came into the world when Reese was just 23 years old, and while the actress was married to Ryan at the time, she recounted that the first few months of motherhood were spent alone. “I was living away from my mother, she had a full-time job as a nurse. I was raising her by myself. I had no sisters, no aunts. I was alone in a new city in Los Angeles and I literally had no friends, I cried,” she detailed in an interview.

Youth, loneliness, and inexperience can make things very difficult when it comes to newborns. “I didn’t know what to do when the baby cried all night, I didn’t know what sleep training was. Ava was up all night until she was probably 7 months old because I didn’t know that I didn’t have to keep feeding her,” Witherspoon continued.

However, in October 2003, Ryan and Reese had a second son, who they named Deacon, but the actors’ marriage ended in 2006. The 2 maintain a good relationship with each other and explain that, if they had to give their children one piece of advice, it would be to get to know themselves before committing to someone else.

When fiction has a hint of reality

In 2017, Reese starred in the film Home Again in which she brought to life a recently divorced mother of 2 who must face raising children alone in Los Angeles. It is almost impossible to not think that the excellence of the actress’s performance perhaps had to do with the fact that the plot of the film was quite similar to her own story in real life.

What her life looks like today

The star of Legally Blonde is living beautifully not only on a professional but also on a personal level. She is married to celebrity agent Jim Toth, with whom she has a son, little Tennessee. She has a beautiful family with a man who is an excellent dad and a great husband: “He supports my ideas and my dreams,” explained Witherspoon.

Some of Reese’s tips for moms-to-be

When the actress was asked about her experience with raising children, she wanted to pass on some advice to new moms: “It’s hard, but the most important thing is to find a network of friends to support you because you can’t do everything alone.” Despite the difficulties, Reese said she would not change anything about her story or the way things happened in her life.

What do you think are the hardest aspects of motherhood that are not talked about much? Tell us about your experience in the comments.