While sitting down for The New York Times<\/a> podcast The Interview<\/a>, the Academy-award winning actress opened up about leaving an abusive relationship when she was “really young.”<\/p>\n “I was very good at being a professional and showing up and doing the right thing, but I wasn’t emotionally mature when I was young,” Reese recalled during the September 20 episode.<\/p>\n “You get into relationships that don’t work for you, and sometimes you don’t even see the dynamics that are happening.”<\/p>\n She revealed she developed a sense of insecurity and lack of confidence following the relationship and had a warped perception of herself because of the abuse.<\/p>\n “It took me a while to reconstitute myself,” the 49-year-old continued. “My spirit had been diminished because I thought all those awful things that person said about me were true. I had to rewire my brain.”<\/p>\n “It took me a long time to be this woman that I am now,” she explained to host\u00a0Lulu Garcia-Navarro.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Morning Show’s Billy Crudup Jokes Emmy Win ‘Fuels Lectures to My Son’ (Exclusive)<\/p>\n View Story\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Reese has remained focused on healing herself all the while navigating being a mother and life in the public.<\/p>\n “It’s very hard to be a public figure,” she added. “I have a lot of compassion for people who live public lives and maintain privacy,” she continued.<\/p>\n “It’s nearly impossible at this point with everybody dehumanizing you in a certain way, taking pictures of you like you’re an animal in the zoo instead of a person with their children or having a private moment.”<\/p>\n Reese shares daughter\u00a0Ava, 26, and son\u00a0Deacon, 21, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe as well as son\u00a0Tennessee, 13, with ex-husband Jim Toth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ava Phillippe Responds After Her Relationship Is Compared to Parents Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe<\/p>\n View Story\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n She first opened up about the past abusive relationship in 2018 to Oprah Winfrey for the March issue of O, The Oprah Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I drew a line in the sand, and it got crossed, and my brain just switched,\u201d she told\u00a0Oprah.<\/p>\n “I couldn’t go any further. I was really young, and it was profound.”<\/p>\n “It changed who I was on a cellular level, the fact that I stood up for myself. It’s part of the reason I can stand up and say, ‘Yes, I’m ambitious.’ Because someone tried to take that from me,” she said at the time.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/28cd9941af3d421ea3dc00bca6e2a688_xs.jpg\")
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