{"id":848257,"date":"2026-08-08T18:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848257\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:26:21","slug":"reese-witherspoon-speaks-out-after-dad-is-rushed-to-hopsital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848257\/","title":{"rendered":"Reese Witherspoon speaks out after dad is rushed to hopsital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reese Witherspoon is speaking out after her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was rushed to the hospital<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

The \u201cWild\u201d actress took to her Instagram Stories later the same day to share an update on her dad, writing, \u201cEarlier today, several outlets reported that my dad was taken to the hospital after a fall. I want to let everyone know that he is fine now. He is being taken care of by wonderful doctors and nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everyone who reached out,\u201d she added. \u201cIt means the world to our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese Witherspoon (pictured above in October 2024) addressed her father, John Draper Witherspoon, being hospitalized Friday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reese said her father was \u201cfine now\u201d after his fall and was \u201cbeing taken care of by wonderful doctors and nurses.\u201d (The actress\u2019 full statement, posted to her Instagram Stories, is seen here.) Reese Witherspoon\/Instagram<\/p>\n

John (seen above with Reese at the actress\u2019 Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony in December 2010) was found face down on the concrete by the pool of his Nashville, Tennessee, condo Friday, sources told Page Six. FilmMagic<\/p>\n

John, 84, was found face down on the concrete by the pool of his Nashville, Tennessee, condo, sources told Page Six Friday.<\/p>\n

A fellow resident spotted the retired otolaryngologist from their balcony and called downstairs to alert the doorman, who eventually located the \u201cBig Little Lies\u201d star\u2019s father on the ground, we\u2019re told.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doorman and building manager rolled him over and they said, \u2018Dr. Witherspoon, are you OK?\u2019\u201d the source noted. \u201cHe blinked his eyes, and that\u2019s when he was rushed to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Nashville Metro confirmed to Page Six that a medical incident resulting in someone being rushed to the hospital had occurred at John\u2019s condo building Friday, but did not reveal the person\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

John (pictured here on the right alongside his wife, Betty and Reese\u2019s ex-husband, Jim Toth) was rushed to the hospital after being found by the building\u2019s doorman. BACKGRID<\/p>\n

John (seen here with Reese) served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves and was an otolaryngologist \u2014 a surgeon who specialized in ears, nose and throat issues. FilmMagic<\/p>\n

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John, who served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves, was a surgeon who specialized in issues concerning the ears, nose and throat.<\/p>\n

He married wife Mary Elizabeth (aka \u201cBetty\u201d) in 1970, after meeting in medical school at the University of Tennessee. Betty was a nurse.<\/p>\n

The couple went on to welcome Reese\u2019s older brother \u2014 also named John \u2014 in 1972 and the \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d actress in 1976.<\/p>\n

John and Betty raised their children in Nashville together until the \u201890s when they separated and began living separately. Their split came to light in 2012, when Betty lodged a bigamy lawsuit<\/a> against John.<\/p>\n

At the time, Betty demanded John\u2019s new marriage to Tricianne Taylor \u2014 which she\u2019d only heard about in the local newspaper \u2014 be annulled, arguing that John had failed to divorce her before marrying again.<\/p>\n

John (pictured here center alongside Reese\u2019s ex-husband, Ryan Phillippee, the \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d actress, and Betty at the 2006 Academy Awards) married Betty in 1970. WireImage<\/p>\n

Reese shared a Father\u2019s Day tribute to John in 2020 (as seen above). Reese Witherspoon\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Betty also claimed at the time she still loved John \u2014 despite his issues with alcohol, infidelity and hoarding.<\/p>\n

They weathered the storm, because Betty told the Australian outlet Women\u2019s Day in 2018 they\u2019d reconciled and been together \u201cquite a while\u201d and were \u201cstill married\u201d (per People<\/a>).<\/p>\n

John and Betty have supported Reese throughout her career, cheering from the audience when she won her Oscar for \u201cWalk the Line\u201d at the 2006 Academy Awards and standing by her side when she got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.<\/p>\n

Though Reese often shares cute moments with her mom on social media, updates on her father have been more rare.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Hello Sunshine founder shared a selfie with John to celebrate Father\u2019s Day, posting a snap of them together on a walk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reese Witherspoon is speaking out after her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was rushed to the hospital Friday. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,27101,1581,134,4082,6317,55906],"class_list":["post-848257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-families","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-hospital","tag-nashville","tag-reese-witherspoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}