All Pop - Movies

BEVERLY HILLS -- At 25, Reese Witherspoon is something of an oddity in Hollywood.

She's a movie star, a wife and a mom.

Most surprising of all to far too many people in Hollywood, Witherspoon is also a natural blonde.

"In L.A., blondes are supposed to register somewhere between dumb and superficial. I have a further strike against me. I'm from the South, so I'm a blonde southern belle. That's not supposed to be a good combination," says Witherspoon.

Anyone in Hollywood who might try to label Witherspoon with such bias has not done their homework.

She was born in Nashville, where her father was a surgeon with the Air Force and her mother a pediatric nurse.

It was almost a foregone conclusion Reese would follow in her parents' footsteps. She actually enrolled at Stanford University to study medicine.

It just wasn't meant to be.

When Witherspoon was 14, she had auditioned to be an extra in Man in the Moon, which was filming in Nashville.

She so impressed director Robert Mulligan that he gave her the lead role opposite Sam Waterston and Tess Harper.

Her critically-acclaimed performance led to roles in Wildflower and Jack the Bear, but she was still determined to be a physician and so began her first semester of pre-med.

Then Witherspoon got a call from director Robert Benton offering her a role in the 1998 thriller Twilight.

"I had to make a choice between Psych 101 and starring opposite Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Stockard Channing and James Garner.

"My parents didn't quite understand my decision, but to me it was a no-brainer. Twilight led to so many other offers that pretty soon, I was too busy having a career to go to school."

Witherspoon's parents were in for a few more shocks.

At her 21 birthday party, Reese met Ryan Phillippe.

They were instantly smitten with each other and soon became one of Hollywood's young golden couples.

Two years into their relationship, Witherspoon discovered she was pregnant.

"The pregnancy wasn't planned, but from the first day we met, Ryan and I knew we wanted to spend our lives together.

"I've always believed you know who your life partner should be the moment you meet and that's how Ryan and I felt about each other from the beginning."

Witherspoon and Phillippe had talked about marriage.

With daughter Eva on the way they just had to rush the formalities.

They were married in a small family ceremony in Charleston, S.C., in June of 1999. Eva was born three months later on Sept. 9.

"Her birthdate is 9-9-99, which I'm told makes her queen of the world or something. She certainly is to us," says Witherspoon, who admits she "had a crash course in motherhood.

"I'd never actually held a newborn before Eva. I am so lucky because Ryan's mother ran a daycare centre.

"Where I was a complete neophyte, Ryan can do a diaper in five seconds flat.

"He was the one who helped me though what started out to be a very difficult period for me. I didn't think I could juggle being a mother and an actress."

During her pregnancy, Witherspoon had agreed to star in the comedy Legally Blonde, playing Elle Woods, a California sorority girl whose boyfriend dumps her because his family doesn't think she is intelligent enough for their son.

To win back her boyfriend, Elle registers at Harvard Law School.

"I loved Legally Blonde because it's Private Benjamin and Working Girl with a Clueless sensibility," says Witherspoon.

Witherspoon is adamant that without the encouragement and dedication of Phillippe, she could never have fulfilled her commitments to Legally Blonde.

"Eva was sick quite a bit and I'd get very little sleep. Elle is supposed to be all peppy and energetic. I didn't think I could pull it off, but Ryan assured me each time that I could and he was there to take care of me and Eva."

Witherspoon says becoming a mother continues to be a life-altering experience.

"When you're off to a film premiere, you have to check to make certain you didn't get some peanut butter on your dress.

"Instead of going out as much as we once did, Ryan and I now have our friends over."

Witherspoon says the best part of her relationship is that "I have a wonderful man who is there for me whatever happens. That's the glue that holds us together.

"It's a huge challenge because we both still want to have careers."

In the 20 months since Eva was born, Witherspoon filmed Legally Blonde and The Importance of Being Earnest. Phillippe finished Igby Goes Down and Gosford Park.

They're both taking a break, but Witherspoon is keeping her eye on several projects which are being developed for her.

In the works is a feature-film version of Honey West and a screen adaptation of the novel The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing.

"I really want to do an action movie," says Witherspoon. "I loved Charlie's Angels and Tomb Raider. I'd just love to be Lara Croft's short, stumpy sidekick."

Witherspoon says playing a law student in Legally Blonde did not make her homesick for university, but it did give her "greater respect for my lawyer.

"He negotiated so that I could keep all my outlandish costumes. I have no intention of ever wearing them again. I'm going to put them in a box, so Eva can play dress-up with them she gets older."

Witherspoon says her parents are being far more supportive.

"They've come to expect the unconventional from me. They've decided to go with the flow."

If daughter Eva decides she wants to be an actress, Witherspoon will have no objections.

"But I will certainly have a lot of advice.

"When I shot Man in the Moon, it was such a wonderful, easy experience that I thought this movie business was a breeze.

"I got a rude awakening a little later on.

"To be an actor you have to have incredible resilience.

"I've heard it all. I've been told I wasn't sexy enough, pretty enough, intelligent enough, interesting enough, or tall enough to get a specific role.

"And yes, I've been told I was too blonde which essentially means all of those things rolled into one."

Reese Witherspoon proves she's a natural