Document: 1030CC-STMMA-1-160122-A030C-XX.pdf;Format:(205.00 x 260.00 mm);Date: 11.Jan 2022 14:17:04; Telegraph
Talkin ng beauty Sonia Haria
‘My skincare routine is a huge part of my life’ Actor, producer and all-round Hollyw y ood icon Reese Witherspoon tells Sonia Haria about her beauty regime, best-loved role and biggest inspiration
THERE ARE FEW stars with a voice as familiar as Reese Witherspoon’s. Speaking over the phone from LA, she is warm and polite, her Southern accent just as it sounds on screen. However she’s talking to me not about her new projects (she is one of the most successful actors and producers in Hollywood), but as global ambassador for skincare range Biossance, which she signed up to after trying the products. And as we speak, it’s clear that her approach to beauty is more than skin deep. ‘I’ve always felt beauty and skincare is a big part of self-esteem,’ she says. Born in Louisiana and raised in Tennessee, Reese, 45, now lives in California with her talent-agent husband Jim Toth, their son Tennessee, 11, and her children Deacon, 18, and Ava, 22, from her first marriage to actor Ryan Phillippe. She puts down much of her attitude to her upbringing. ‘As a child, I remember watching my mother getting ready for work every morning and thinking how beautiful she
was. She always had red lipstick on, which I thought was so glamorous,’ she recalls. Reese’s mother Betty was a huge influence. ‘I grew up with a very strong mother and a very strong grandmother. My mom always taught me, when you put yourself together and take care of yourself, you present more confidently to the world.’ Indeed she does. Named by Forbes as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019, she sold her production company Hello Sunshine last summer for a reported $900 million, having proven that fema ale-led stories work. An avid re eader, who studied English litterature at Stanford (she leftt early to pursue acting), Reese was behind (and starred in) hit TV series including Big Little Liess and most recently, Th he Morning Show, alongside Jennifer Aniston. In that, Reese plays news reporter Bradley Jackson, who is pluck ked from relative obscurity y to
co-host a breakfast show alongside Aniston’s experienced anchor. By season two, Jackson’s in the driver’s seat – having ditched a mousy-brown hair colour for blonde, a change that speaks volumes. ‘She’s trying to fit in and get along,’ says Reese. ‘She dyes her hair, gets fake eyelashes and gets really comfortable with the trappings of fame and power. But what are the pitfalls of wanting that kind of success?’ The role that brought Reese worldwide fame, however, was a protagonist who refused to ch hange:: Elle Woods, of 2001’s Legallyy Blonde. ‘She’s definitely a modern feminist,’ Reese e says of Woods, who folllows an ex-boyfriend to o Harvard Law School and finds her calling. ‘She was my most fun character. In the first movie she had 40 costum me changes and every one was better than the last. Elle Woods is a characterr who loves beauty and fashio on and truly believes women n can be feminine, be-
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