Last week, I was feeling bad for Reese Witherspoon. It seemed like her latest film, This Means War, had bombed – so far, it’s made about $35 million in two weeks. But that was before Jennifer Aniston’s new film really bombed over the weekend – now Reese is looking like the much better contender for “America’s Sweetheart,” isn’t she? My problem with Reese the actress is that when I’m watching her in a rom-com, I’m thinking, “I wish she would do more dramas.” And when I’m watching her in a drama, I’m thinking, “I wish she would do more comedies.” Maybe it’s the lack of worthy material in Hollywood. Maybe it’s that Reese has bad taste in projects. Maybe she needs to be less concerned with her paycheck and more concerned with simply making good films.
Anyway, that was a long way to go to say this – for the most part, I like Reese as a person. I still want her to do well. I want her to stop pretending to be a ditz, because she shouldn’t be ashamed of being an anal-retentive, hyper-organized, intelligent woman. I want her to end her friendship with Chelsea Handler – it’s doing her no favors. And mostly, I want Reese to fully embrace being a role model to young women. Because she’s smart, she’s talented, and her instincts are good. Here’s an article about Reese discussing domestic violence and what she tells her kids about the Chris Brown situation:
As the Global Ambassador for the Avon Foundation, Reese Witherspoon knows that in the U.S. and worldwide, one in three woman will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. As a mother, she wants her kids to know that, too.
“We talk about domestic violence and what that means,” Witherspoon, 35, told PEOPLE Tuesday at the 2nd World Conference of Women’s Shelters in Washington, D.C., about educating her own family. “Although the concept is somewhat foreign to them, they’re starting to understand that this happens to families in our country and all throughout the world.”
Witherspoon’s two children – daughter Ava, 12, and son Deacon, 8 – have also talked with their mother about a recent public case: the felony assault by Chris Brown on then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009, after which he pleaded guilty.
“My daughter knows what happened. My son knows as well,” says the Oscar winner. “We talk about what is abuse. I think it’s important to talk to our daughters – and our sons – in order to educate them at an early age about what’s appropriate and what is absolutely not acceptable.”
Luckily for Witherspoon, she’s found herself in a happy relationship and marriage with husband Jim Toth. The couple’s first wedding anniversary is next month.
“I don’t know what we’re doing, but I’m very excited!” she says. “It happened so fast – it all went so quickly.”
[From People]
Props to Reese for using the situation as teachable moment for her kids. And double-props to her for emphasizing domestic violence education for BOTH boys and girls. Reese is a great mom! By the way, do you think Chris Brown will have some kind of idiotic hissy fit now that Reese mentioned him? I’d like to see Reese verbally take on Chris in the public sphere.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Good for her
Trust me I dont give a damn about Chris Brown at all. But lil miss Perfect HAS to tell evryone what a perfect mom she is. Good for her, but when has Reese Witherspoon NOT BRAGED about anything that makes her look sooo freaking perfect. Thats the only reason I dont like her and never would. She keeps trying to convince evryone shes “America’s Sweetheart”, I bet shes fake as Lohans face
No, you are confusing her with GOOP. Reese has always been down to earth, never mightier than thou type. This is why I like her. I am very attentive to fame whore mum celebrities and this is not one of them.
How in the world could you have read that as has to “tell evryone what a perfect mom she is”? Talk about twisting her words…and putting words in her mouth. Clearly you don’t like her and that’s fine, but outright misrepresenting what she said is lame.
He’ll accuse her of trying to get famous by mentioning his name.
He probably will! He’s so delusional he probably thinks he IS much more famous and that she’s doing it for a career boost!
I bet he’ll say something prolific like, “H8RZ Gonna HATE! I GOTZ MY GRAMY BITCH!”
LOL! No doubt!
I like that she spoke with her kids about it and she kept it real, but she didn’t feel the need to get all preachy in the interview and drag him down either. Because really, no one in Hollywood should be doing that period.
Take note Miranda Lambert.
I agree celebs shouldn’t preach about politics or religion. Not everyone agrees on those issues. I don’t see why celebs shouldn’t use their voices to call out an abuser or bring attention to it. Don’t we all agree that what chris brown plead guilty to is wrong? I think after the over acceptance the grammys showed CB, the mirandas and reeses are refreshing. He’s a creep.
Good for Reese. It’s a better way to handle the Chris Brown situation than taking sides or blaming Rihanna for going back to him. That being said, Chris Brown will take the opportunity to go all snarky tweet about how Reese is using his name to gain popularity with her children.
I hope Chris DOES flip out over this situation. It’ll be Kanye V Taylor Swift alllllllll over again.
I think that Reese is right though. It is important enough to educate our children (of BOTH genders on this topic). I can honestly say I never think about it. I’m too concerned with letting my 4 year old “be a kid,” that it’s honestly something I would never even think of. I mean, obviously I tell him, “we don’t hit others,” and (thought its more sexual abuse targeted) “nobody sees your penis but you,” but I never think about telling him specifically about certain situations
Well, her kids are a little bit older, and she says they were asking questions. I think you’re setting a good foundation for that conversation later on down the road by teaching him those basics. Good job, mom 🙂
Thank you. Before I was adopted, I was abused in pretty much any way you could think of. I’ll be damned if I let my son suffer like did.
And you’re right. He is young. I think maybe in a couple of years, I’ll have a talk with him about it. For now, I’m going to still let him be a kid.
Kudoz, Samigirl, for being a smart mom.
“I’d like to see Reese verbally take on Chris in the public sphere.”
HA!! Considering Neanderthal Chris Brown has ZERO verbal skills – he can barely speak English for heaven’s sake – that would be hilarious!!
Never been much of a Reese fan, but she’s growing on me. 🙂
I am in NO WAY defending Brown, he’s disgusting, BUT
Reese should use her pedophile brother to teach her kids lessons about other abuses. What an uppity twat she’s turning into.
Say what?
What does that have to do with this article? Do you mean because Reese’s brother broke the law, she is no longer allowed to teach her children right and wrong about anything else? That makes no sense.
She has no moral ground to talk. Her brother should be used instead.
@Jordan No, I do not mean that Reese is not allowed to teach her children right from wrong. Don’t be so facile.
what did her brother do? I never heard about that.
And how do you know she hasn’t talked to her kids about whatever her brother has done?
You point may be well taken, but following it with that word to describe her is just gross.
@mia You’re criticizing my use of the word twat while commenting on a site that incorporates “b1tch” into its name?
Don’t even try to argue about the word’s cute factor. The meaning of bitch is ugly. If you want to knock me for the use of my negative language being directed at a woman, please start with the words you’re already comfortable with.
Excuse me, he committed a s3x crime but it was not against a child.
Google it if you’re interested…dunno if links are allowed here 🙂
I just googled that and it sounds like Reese’s brother has serious alcohol problems. Although the arrest you’re referring to did happen 10 years ago, in 2002, so who knows if maybe he has sobered up since then? How embarrassing…
@Onyx XV he very well may be recovered, but my understanding of s3x offenders is that they are most often “incurable.”
The pardonable crimes many amateur offenders commit are the first baby steps in an escalating chain of events.
I’m getting a little annoyed at CB being used as the de facto poster boy for violence against women. Yeah, he’s a pig and should be castrated (I draw a hard line LOL), but Reese worked VERY hard to shove her brother’s crimes into the closet, so she has no business publicly calling out anyone else.
This is my (humble) opinion.
She seems like a really good, smart mom. Her kids are lucky, especially growing up in Hollywood.
Does she use Charlie Sheen as an example as well ? the double standards in Hollywood shock the hell out of me !
She probably wouldn’t use Charlie Sheen in this example because either her kids wouldn’t know who he is or they don’t idolize him the way they do Chris Brown because of his music. Charlie Sheen is not a poster child of DV because that is only one of his problems among so many. Plus, Chris Brown’s beating of Rihanna was so brutal it’s hard to compare the two. Neither one is right, but the shock of seeing Rihanna’s face and the fact he left her for dead on the side of the road, is what makes Chris Brown the one the media is going to point out whenever the subject of DV comes up.
To Reese defense, her audience ask her about CB, she didn’t say anything bad, you need to google the original article. The media will alls delete the positive someone say about CB, to paint him as an angry black man.
Chris Brown is probably more relevant to her children than Charlie Sheen is.
They are both pieces of sh*t to be sure, but if she’s going to use one as an example to educate her children about domestic violence, then good for her. I’m not going to worry about whether one abuser is getting more scrutiny than another.
It shocks the hell out of me that people get all up in arms about making sure there is an equal distribution of criticism for abusers and that one isn’t treated more “unfairly” than another. A nonrepetant, entitled abuser like CB is not going to get any sympathy from me just because he’s getting the brunt of the public scrutiny.
IMO, the more light that can be shed on this issue, the better.
Wow. My respect for her just sky-rocketed. That’s quite a statement, given the whiny little rat in question’s volatility. Reese and Miranda Lambert are both good people.
My daughter is a fan of CB. I sat her down and had a LONG converstaion with her when the whole DV thing happened because she was making excuses for him and I wasn’t having it. I told her that it’s okay to be a fan of his music, but don’t let that cause you to make excuses for his personal bad behavior. There is never a good reason for violence against a woman or violence, period. I reinforce that with her from time to time, because she is young and the media and H-wood have a history of forgiving bad boys and our kids see that and want to be that; rich and stupid.
Hi Kaiser
I really like Reese too, and wish she would find that next great role… but had to share this link with you because I am not sure about this one…
http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/ryan-murphy-plans-one-hit-wonders-with-gwyneth-paltrow-reese-witherspoon-cameron-diaz-beyonce-and-andy-samberg/
She annoys me.
New Reese would SO cut him down if he had his 402nd TwitterFit about this. (Yeah, yeah, you hate her, but) Chelsea Handler does seem to have opened her up to some more zinging and honesty, and I don’t think she’d stand for that shit these days.
THE BLOGS WRITE WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO KNOW, REESE DIDN’T SAY NOTHING BAD ABOUT RIHANNA AND CHRIS BROWN. HER ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT THE SHELTER IS WASHINGTON, SHE SAID THAT SHE DOESN’T KNOW RIHANNA AND CHRIS PERSONALLY TO SPEAK ON THEIR SITUATION. SHE STATED THAT EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERRENT AND SHE SAID THAT SHE BELIEVE IN CHANGE AND SHE SAID SHE TALKED TO HER KIDS ABOUT HOW WE CAN HELP VICTIMS AND ABUSERS AND STOP THE CYCLE. It irrate me all the hate CB gets from the main stream blogs, they want to continue blasting even if other people is supporting him.
huh?
What “Susan?” Your point is misconstrued via poor English.
This is what she really said on the Rihanna and Cb situation.
Every case is different,” the movie star told us. “There’s obviously room for growth and change in lots of people’s lives. I don’t know either one of them, so I can’t really comment about their lives. But it was one of those experiences that actually created a great opportunity to talk to your kids about domestic violence issues.”
We have to end the cycle, because we’re teaching children to be victims and abusers.”
The maintstream media is really starting to get to me, it really show how far we really came as black people, even with a black President.
Oh my GOD. SIT DOWN.
And as a black person (too), I have to say you are not making any sense and in no way speak for me. I can NOT with you. The point you are trying to make between Obama and Chris Brown’s crimes and the mainstream media is ABSURD. Chris Brown put his hands on that young woman, it was never a fair fight, I don’t care what skin color he has. “Inappropriate” doesn’t even begin to describe what men who do things of this magnitude to women are.
The LEAST of Chris Brown’s penance should be to spend the REST of his LIFE aware of what he did to her. That is his karma now, and he brought it on himself. You don’t do something this violent to someone, and then expect people to forget. now we have to behave like it never happened? That little jerk should consider himself lucky he did not receive a punishment that fit his crime. They should have put him in a room with all of Rihanna’s male relatives for the same amount of time as that drive when those pics came out. THAT would have been fair punishment for what he did. It was NEVER a fair fight for her.
Domestic violence is recognised as a hate crime against women in London. It’s handled by the same team who handle crimes based on race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability.
We live in a world where, absolutely correctly, there was a global boycott of South African goods when the disgusting, Nazi policies of Apartheid were in situ. But in Saudi Arabia today a woman cannot drive a car. She cannot vote. She cannot leave the house without a male relative, and once her son turns 7 he can order her about and she has to obey. If she is raped, she must produce 2 male witnesses to attest to that rape or she can be executed herself for fornication. Where are the boycotts? Where are the sanctions, the people refusing to play sports, the refusal to send diplomatic missions there, never mind base an Embassy?
To pretend the way Chris Brown beat up Rihanna is a race issue, while ignoring the gender issue, is absurd.
Incidentally, the whole Birther nonsense is disgustingly racist. Funny how the only President whose nationality has ever been questioned happens not to be white.
I am NOT claiming that racism isn’t alive, well and horrendous. I’m just saying that to look at a guy who beat the crap out of a woman, bit her, left her blood spattered all over his car and then left her by the side of the road, who received a Grammy when still serving his (risible, laughable, probation-based) sentence for that crime and after never showing a scrap of remorse… well, no, it’s not the best example of racism, IMO. More like a good example of institutionalised misogyny.
I would also like to know what would happen in the United States to a man who beat up a stranger in the street that way. Because in this country, he’d be looking at years in jail. Plural. Why is the fact the victim was a woman he was dating mitigation, in the USA, rather than an aggravating feature of that crime?
I LOVE that so many high profile types are talking about the assault incident (and some are even calling him out)…. I don’t think his Grammy win is sitting too well with a lot of folks, myself included. I hope he throws a bitchfit at Reese – she’d verbally thrash him in a heartbeat.
The people calling him out are has beens. He is sitting pretty with grammy thank you very much.
If that were true, he’d not be freaking the hell out every time this got mentioned. Nor would his fans.
He cares, and accordingly so do they.
Good for Reese! I’ve also used the CB/Riri situation as a teachable moment for both my boy & girl, similar to what she described, except I’m not quite as tactful as her…
I like RW I just don’t like that hoe(CH) she’s friends with. I think its good that she talked to her kids about it. Thats what parents suppose to do instead of allowing celebs be their kids role models and letting them learn from them.
HaHA! Talking about Chris Brown. She should be talking about her husband Jim Toth! Now that guy has more angerment issues then Brown! But no one wants to discuss him! What a joke she has become!
Who knew there were so many Chris Brown fans who read Celebitchy…
Ah…Chris Brown simply referred to Reese as a bitch as he does all women and said she could thank him for keeping her relevant or some such nonsense. Chris Brown is a little boy in a man’s body and nothing more. But one of these days he will call the wrong woman bitch and that I can’t wait for. It will happen, it always does and karma is the bitch that will bite you hard and not let up. His day is coming.
Witherspoon walks on water!
Sick a** people on this site!
If you all ONLY KNEW THE TRUTH about her!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
I think she sounds like a great mom and a great person. But I have to admit, I’m over the Chris Brown thing. People screw up, he paid for his mistake. It’s not our place to forgive or not forgive, and all these celebrities using him as the poster child for domestic violence is getting old. I have no doubt he’s probably quite a bit of a douche, and what he did was wrong. But seriously, it was three years ago.
And I don’t buy the “he did it once, he’ll do it again” excuse for continuing to crucify him. He may or may not, but that is not a hard and fast rule. I’ve done quite a few stupid things that I never did again. And I’ve had a couple of men hit me who never hit me again (although admittedly not on that level). Just let it go is my opinion.
Shannon, you are the voice of reason.
Her daughter is beautiful.