Reese Witherspoon is a marketing genius. She knows exactly how much to say in an interview without giving much away. Reese says “Yeah, my divorce was devastating, but I’m not going to talk about it” and you’ve got your headline, baby. “Reese says divorce was devastating’. Ta da. And the conversation goes back to whatever project the actress is currently promoting.

Reese is currently out promoting Penelope, her latest flick from her production company Type A, in which Christina Ricci plays a woman with a pig’s nose. I’m not giving away any more of the plot, because I am dying to see this (I love Reese) and don’t want to spoil it.

Reese spoke to E! News telling them she wants to shoot someone. That’s headline-worthy right there.

Here’s what she said about shoot-’em-up movies wherein the leading man gets to take down the bad guy. “Why does the guy get to shoot him? I want the girl to shoot him!” she said, laughing intermittently. “I love watching Angelina Jolie kick ass in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and I can’t wait to see her in Wanted. I would love to shoot someone. In the knee cap or something, just to stop them!”

I would really like to see Elle Woods (Reese’s character from Legally Blonde) go crazy and shoot people. Elle, in a movie with Jason Bourne, where they go around shooting all her ex-boyfriends and members of her sorority. That is an instant movie classic.

Then, Reese told Good Morning America that she wants her kids to get bullied so they’ll have the experience:

“I’ve had movies that were stinkeroos! And then, you know, I think everybody has experience of a being awkward. I was always really short and really underdeveloped and had big coke-bottle glasses … I think, that’s where I got a personality from, though, man. I wouldn’t give any of it back — not for a day.”

Penelope has grown up not only dealing with the shame of her parents, but also with the ridicule of her classmates. Witherspoon sees this taunting as “formative” and says her own experience with failure has helped define who she is.

“I wouldn’t want my children to miss out on any of that teasing and bullying and don’t you think it kind of makes you who you are?” Witherspoon asked Connelly.

“This drives me crazy about today. Everyone wins the award and then, you know, everybody’s an MVP? No! They’re not! Okay? I distinctly recall the two weeks of crying because I didn’t make the softball team. It made me interesting, you know?”

Gee, why don’t you just put a couple of ‘kick me’ signs on their backs as you drop them off to school Reese? You don’t think they’re going to get picked on? All kids get picked on, and famous kids probably more so. Reese was actually talking about this in the context of her new movie, where the title character has a pig’s nose and I suspect would get some teasing. And when I say ’some teasing’ I mean ‘relentless teasing’.

Then, she talks about paparazzi and her fear of a butt shot.

The mother-of-two admits the prospect of her bikini-clad bottom gracing the pages of tabloid magazines and internet sites around the world terrifies her.

Witherspoon says, “I hate that the paparazzi takes my picture when I’m on vacation: `Oh my god, did they see my butt? I hope they did not see my butt.’”

PR Inside

Which I totally sympathize with, because even the most bootylicious are afraid to see a photograph of their asses on the cover of a weekly rag.

Now this is all very cute and entertaining of Reese, and makes for good press, but what was the pink elephant in the room she was avoiding talking about? One was the death of Heath Ledger and her (unconfirmed) boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal’s reaction to it. The other was her husband’s latest interview about the divorce and the other woman Abbie Cornish.

Way to go Reese. Penelope is in cinemas February 28th.

Note by Celebitchy: Here’s the trailer for Penelope, it looks so cute!

And here are some stills from the film, thanks to AllMoviePhoto. Also shown are Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and Peter Dinklage. The last three pictures were taken in May, 2006 during filming. Spoiler Alert: The final picture below shows Ricci with her full face for the film, so don’t look at that image if you would rather not spoil it before you see the film.

For reasons completely unbeknownst to me, I’ve always sided with Reese Witherspoon in her divorce from Ryan Phillippe. Probably due to that nasty rumor that he was cheating on her, and/or jealous of her career. But whenever he’s interviewed he comes across as genuinely brokenhearted about the whole thing, and admits to a level of sadness few men would. It seems like he was truly broken apart by the whole thing, and is still very much in the process of putting himself back together. Ryan gave a pretty in-depth interview to W magazine recently, where he talked about the divorce and his relationship with Abbie Cornish, who he was long rumored to have had an affair with. Ryan insists that the two are not a couple.

“She and I are close friends, and as far as if there is any future, that is not where we are at now,” he says. “That is what other people like to say or like to assume. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a friendship, and we are getting to know each other in a really difficult situation.”

Cornish was labeled the “other woman” after it was rumored that the two slept together during production on Stop-Loss. Asked about the veracity of the gossip in a rather blunt manner, Phillippe bursts out laughing and says, “First of all, I wouldn’t answer that, but I would say that things are never as simple as it’s made out to be in the tabloid press. It was unfair for her to be called the names that she was, because it wasn’t about that. I don’t think an outside person can ever cause a divorce. I had difficulties in my relationship, and in my marriage, long before I ever met her.”

[From W Magazine]

Ryan also gives a really astute answer when the subject comes up of why his relationship with Reese ended. He says that the public wants answers - and he doesn’t even go off on how people aren’t entitled to answers. He just says that they wouldn’t necessarily be satisfied with them.

Phillippe says these popular diagnoses of his failed union widely miss the mark. “I certainly understand the level of interest that comes along with a public marriage,” he says, “and with being married to someone like Reese, who so many people love with good reason. People want answers. But I think sometimes they wouldn’t be happy with what the answers would be.”

[From W Magazine]

Ryan has mentioned in a previous interview that he was so depressed over the divorce that he was suicidal. He noted to W that he couldn’t get out of bed for months, but that things did eventually get better, little by little.

A little later, Phillippe says his divorce was “the darkest, saddest place I had ever been. It was a struggle—there were a good four or five months of not being able to get out of bed. It was the worst time in my life.” These days, things are better. “You get through it. It’s a process that’s not easy, but I get less and less sad about it every day.”

[From W Magazine]

It’s really heart-wrenching to read what he has to say. Phillippe definitely doesn’t come off as a bad guy, and he doesn’t portray Reese as a bad person either. I am always curious as to why their relationship ended, but he’s right, the average member of the public would probably never be satisfied with the answer, because we weren’t a part of that relationship and don’t understand the intricacies of what went on. Ryan says he and Reese have maintained a cordial relationship because of their kids. It doesn’t seem that they’re warm to each other, and it appears that there’s still sadness and hurt, which is understandable. Hopefully as time goes on everyone will heal and things will thaw out.

Header image is of Ryan at the Edinburgh film festival on 8/23/07, thanks to WENN.

Though a lot of people seem to accuse Reese Witherspoon of being a prude, consider how many times I saw three quarters of Lindsay Lohan’s ass last week, I’m really, really okay with someone who thinks it’s a good idea to keep her shirt on. Contrary to what you may see in Hollywood, I read a report last week that said that 98% of women wear a shirt when they leave the house. The majority of those over the age of 13 even strap on a bra most of the time. Very few of them wear skirts so short that you can actually see their lady bits. Reese Witherspoon has recently announced that she won’t go nude for any role, and has questioned why so many women feel they need to. And considering I can tell you exactly what Britney Spears’ nipples look like, I have to say that I think Reese is onto something.

Reese Witherspoon won’t pose for sexy photo shoots to promote her films. “If [actresses] take their clothes off, they objectify themselves,” she tells the UK edition of Glamour. “I am flabbergasted by how many legitimate actresses do it.”

Witherspoon, 31 – who shares custody of Ava, 8, and Deacon, 4, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe – adds that she tries to avoid the pitfalls of a Hollywood lifestyle. “I am a role model for my children,” she says. “Hollywood is one of those endless competitions,” she says. “It’s a race towards nothing. I just want to be the best version of myself that I can be.”

Witherspoon credits her 2005 Best Actress Oscar win for Walk the Line with opening up a range of film roles. “I would never have been offered these kind of roles,” she says. “There was also a lot of pressure after [winning an Oscar]. People wanted me to do a really big movie and I just wanted to do something more sort of personal and real.”

[From Us Weekly]

I wouldn’t have such a problem with on-screen nudity if there were more parity between women and men. But I swear, the ratio of naked women to naked men is like 10 to .5. That means that for every ten women I see naked, I see half of one naked guy. Do you have any idea how disappointing that is? Sometimes it’s the left half or the right, and I can deal with that. But when it’s just the top half or the bottom, it seems really unfair.

In other Reese Witherspoon news, rumors surfaced yesterday that she was engaged to boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal, which her rep quickly denied. I don’t believe a word that comes from a rep’s mouth anymore, but I also don’t believe that Reese would get engaged to someone before she’d evaluated their college transcripts, 401(k) and medical history, so I’m guessing there’s no ring yet.

Reese and Ryan at the Walk The Line premiere on 11/13/05
Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe are fighting over Jake Gyllenhaal. And who wouldn’t? Damn, he is hot. Waaay hotter than Ryan “I’m so pretty” Phillippe. Except they’re actually fighting over the kids, and how much influence Jake has over them.

According to a family friend, the kids love Jake so much that when it’s time for Reese to hand them over to Ryan , little Deacon can’t stop talking about Jake. “It’s Jake did this, Jake brought mommy flowers and coffee, Jake says we should recycle,” the friend tells OK!

It’s reportedly taking it’s toll on Ryan. “Ryan called Reese and suggested she stop letting him (Jake) spend so much time with the kids,” the insider tells OK! “He was pretty irate on the phone. Reese barely let him finish the sentence before she shot back that what she does with her personal life is her business.”

OK! Magazine

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you get divorced. Your kids become part of another person’s life, if your former partner takes up with someone new. I’m pretty sure that Reese isn’t exactly loving the role Abbie Cornish has in Ava, 8, and Deacon’s, 3, lives, but you have to accept that you don’t have any say over your former partner’s girlfriend. Which is shattering, and takes a long time to get used to.

Ava and Deacon spend equal time with both parents and their new partners under the custody agreement arranged while Reese and Ryan were divorcing.

Reese this week had a blood blister on her eye - ew, gross, poor Reese - that held up shooting on the movie Four Christmases. Staying true to her type A personality, she was more concerned with disrupting a day’s work than with her painful eye, and “kept apologizing to everyone from producers to the lighting guys.” Which is kind of sweet, except that they were probably actually happy to get a half day off work. They were probably just trying to hide it until she left.

Picture note by Celebitchy: The header image is obviously an old one of Reese and Ryan. It was taken at the premiere of Walk The Line on 11/13/05, thanks to PRPhotos.

Last Thursday we reported the rumor that Jake Gyllenhaal asked his unlikely girlfriend Reese Witherspoon to marry him when they had their first public vacation in Rome last October. We reported on the news as found on SFGate’s gossip blog, which sourced “reports,” which we assumed were the gossip rags. The source is Mike Walker’s column in The National Enquirer, which has an exclusive with this story this week and more details, including the fact that Reese was understandably reluctant at first but now wants to have a summer wedding? Can you imagine?

When Jake first proposed in Rome, he knew Reese needed time, and didn’t really expect her to say “yes” right away. He just wanted her to know that he was serious about their relationship - serious enough to make her his wife.” Jakes patience paid off. When the subject of marriage came up just before the New Year, Jake was stunned when his love said: Let’s plan on a summer wedding. “What really sealed the deal was how Jake took to Reese’s two kids, Ava and Deacon,” said a pal. “Take a look at pics of Jake carrying Deacon on his shoulders in a Malibu park and Reese walking hand-in-hand with Ava. You’re seeing a warm snapshot of domestic bliss.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, January 21, 2008]

I was all set to believe this rumor until they started referring to the pictures as proof. That’s a dead giveaway that they don’t have a source. There does seem to be something going on between these two though. They looked mighty pissed to be photographed out together hiking with Reese’s kids, but they’re both actors so they could be looking grumpy for the cameras that they tipped off.

Although their first film as co-stars, Rendition, didn’t do so well at the box office that might have more to do with the serious subject matter than their box office draw. There’s a story in this week’s Star that they’re in talks to star in another film together in which they play lovers. If they are a couple that seems like an incredibly bad idea:

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal… are in negotiations to play lovers who break up and then make up just before Feburary 14 in the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 21, 2008]

If they’re going to be in another movie together it might explain why they’ve been spotted out hanging out together so often. Maybe they are just friends. Still, The Enquirer bolstered their engagement story with the news that Reese and Jake were together for a vacation weekend in New Mexico before New Years and that they went to a concert on New Year’s Eve at Disney Hall where they were seen cuddling and kissing at midnight.

Reese is seen outside a medical building with what looks like gum sticking out of her mouth on 11/20/07. Thanks to WENN.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s gossip blog, The Daily Dish, claims that Jake Gyllenhaal has proposed to Reese Witherspoon. It sounds like they’re quoting a gossip magazine, probably one that came out today for next week, but they don’t source their quotes. They say that Jake proposed to Reese way back when they had that much-publicized trip to Rome together, but that Reese demurred because it was too soon after her divorce from Ryan Phillippe. Reese has supposedly accepted Jake’s proposal now, though. This news comes right after a story that Jake was pouring over engagement rings at Cartier with the help of his sister, Maggie, but that he settled on a white gold “Love” necklace featuring two rings intertwined.

Friends claim Gyllenhaal proposed to Witherspoon during the couple’s vacation in Rome last October. Oscar-winner Witherspoon said “not yet,” so soon after her split from Ryan Phillippe, but reportedly has since said “yes,” after consulting with close friends.
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A pal says, “Not only were they (her friends) crazy about Jake, they could see he was absolutely nuts about her. But you’ve go tot understand — Reese is a one-man woman who hates playing the field.

“When Jake proposed in Rome, he knew Reese needed time, and didn’t really expect her to say ‘yes’ right away. He just wanted her to know that he was serious about their relationship — serious enough to make her his wife.”

[From SFGate.com]

These two took pains not to be seen together at what was thought to be the beginning of their relationship last spring. They were first photographed together off set in July. They were seen in all-too-clear shots seeing the sights in Rome this October and looked like they were posing for the cameras right around the time that their film, Rendition, came out. People claimed their relationship was for publicity, but now they’ve been seen together on separate occasions getting coffee and going hiking with Reese’s kids. They even took a vacation together this fall, and may have been on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard together late this summer.

It seems like these two are for real, but are they really engaged? It’s possible, but doubtful. We’ll have to see if Reese is seen out with an engagement ring, or even her beautiful new necklace.

I can’t really blame Reese Witherspoon for not getting along with Vince Vaughn on the set of their new film “Four Christmases.” He just looks like a bloated sack of potatoes to me. Sure there’s all sorts of body types from slim to thick, but he just has that dirty, lazy, slothful look to him. Something tells me Vince considers showering more than once a week optional.

The pair (Reese especially) have been getting a lot of bad press for their fighting on the set. They definitely have two opposite personalities. Reese is very “Type A” (in fact that’s the name of her production company) whereas Vince is very… whatever type lay around and fart all day is. Now several media outlets are reporting that Reese won’t do a sex scene with Vince, and Vince (who is one of the film’s producers) is refusing to change the scene.

Reese Witherspoon is refusing to film a sex scene with Vince Vaughn. The pair have reportedly been clashing constantly on the set of romantic comedy ‘Four Christmases’ and now Reese is refusing to roll around naked with Vince.

An on-set source told the New York Post newspaper: “Reese has an issue with the scripted love scene. It is meant to be a funny, ‘American Pie’-style romp, full of bumps and laughs, but Reese is such a prude, she thinks it’s just too much.”

Despite being an Oscar winner and a more highly-paid Hollywood star, Reese is unlikely to win the argument as Vince is one of the film’s producers. The 37-year-old actor also oversaw much of the script writing, about a couple whose divorced parents do not get on, so they decide to celebrate Christmas separately with each of them. It has previously been reported Reese, 31, has been unhappy with Vince’s behavior on set. While she is keen to work hard and film on schedule, he allegedly turns up to work hung-over, forgets his lines and is constantly fooling about on set.

[From Hip Hop Elements]

I don’t think Reese is a prude, she’s probably just afraid of the food in Vince Vaughn’s teeth, the random twigs in his hair, and the bramble in his bellybutton. I wouldn’t be running towards that either. Considering Vince oversaw a lot of the script writing, you just know he was rooting for a sex scene. That was before he met Reese, and learned of her obvious distaste for him. Either he gets off on women hating him, or they’re locked in a power struggle. I’m guessing it’s a little bit of both. Maybe he should try a little of the old Vince Vaughn charm… you know, from back in the day when he had charm. “Swingers” style. Try a little showering. Maybe washing of the underwear. And then see where that gets him.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon are slowing coming out of the relationship closet after a much-ridiculed public clinch in Rome, Italy that seemed a little too conveniently timed with the release of their film Rendition. Then they were spotted out in Napa Valley in November enjoying a romantic weekend getaway at an exclusive resort. The two were even said to have had a quickie in a first class airplane bathroom around that time, but the only proof was a supposed eyewitness that saw them go in minutes apart and look guilty afterwards.

In the past week Reese and Jake have been photographed out together twice - getting coffee and going for a hike with her two children. Jake was seen carrying four year-old Deacon on his shoulders during the hike. The same photo agency captured both moments, so they either have an exclusive deal with them or they’re particularly good at stalking Jake and Reese. I would say it was a stalking situation since Reese looks incredibly annoyed in the photos as has had public clashes with the paparazzi in the past.

There’s a story in this week’s Star Magazine titled misleadingly “A Ring for Reese!” It’s all about how Jake visited a Cartier jeweler with his sister Maggie and supposedly checked out engagement rings. He went away with a three thousand dollar necklace that looks suspiciously like two wedding rings entwined:

With sister Maggie in tow, [Jake Gyllenhaal] paid a hush-hush visit to Cartier in Beverly Hills on December 13. And Star has learned exclusively that he spent two whole hours checking out the ring bling!

“Jake was adorable,” a Cartier clerk reveals. “He was like a teenager with a crush, asking his sister, ‘Which one should I get?’ He kept talking about Reese and how she’s classy and fun.”

But after pouring over the diamond dazzlers and pondering a pair of $3,800 Love rings, Jake put the ring thing on hold and instead snagged a $3,050 necklace from the store’s Love Collection…

[Jake also] bought [Ava, 8, and Deacon, 4, Reese’s children with her ex husband Ryan Phillippe] the season’s hottest toy, the Nintendo Wii.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 7, 2008]

We got a Wii for Christmas here and I swear they developed that thing with the idea of helping kids exercise while they’re playing video games. You have to swing your arms so hard, although it’s a lot of fum.

So it seems like a lot of photos of Jake and Reese are coming out all at once. I checked the DVD release date for their film, Rendition, and it’s not out until February 19. That’s over six weeks away, a lifetime in the news cycle. It must be true love.

Just in time to promote her new movie dealing with body image, Christina Ricci has come out and spoken about her battle with anorexia.

“I was a teenager going through adolescence and at one point I had a little anorexia phase and then I kind of ballooned,” she tells Entertainment Tonight in an interview to air on Tuesday. “I feel my body now is the adult Christina and it’s what I should have come to a long time ago if I hadn’t been screwing around with my body so much.”

The 27-year-old admits she used to waste many days worrying about her projected image on the red carpet, determined to look thin and gorgeous. The obsession consumed her so much that she was no longer enjoying nights out on the town.

“I was too busy thinking about my skin or my weight or the clothes I was wearing instead of just enjoying it and saying, ‘I can’t believe I get to be here. This is awesome and I’m going to experience it.’”

OK! Magazine

I think this is timely advice, separate to the fact that Christina’s new movie Penelope deals with body image. At this time of year we’re all going out and seeing colleagues at end of year functions, worrying about what to wear and what impression we might make on our work mates. Maybe just try to be nice to everyone, that’s probably going to make a better impression than great shoes. If you can’t manage nice, then maybe get a dress to go with the shoes!

Penelope, according to IMDb, deals with a girl born with the nose of a pig, which is the result of a family curse. She must find true love to break the curse, and she goes out into the world with Reese Witherspooon’s character Annie. Since this is the exact kind of film Reese Witherspoon is made for I can’t wait to see it. Forget dull political dramas like Rendition, give me a girl with a pig’s nose fairytale any day.

Note by Celebitchy: It sounds like Ricci is downplaying her eating disorder by calling it “a little anorexia phase” and then focusing on her weight gain when she was recovering. It takes courage though to let us know she is concerned with her weight and went through a period when it consumed her. For every celebrity that talks about their personal health issues, there are countless people who are helped who are going through the same thing.

Ricci is shown on 11/7/07 at the DKNY Delicious launch party, thanks to PRPhotos.

The celebrity rumor mill is on overdrive, as it appears Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn are not getting along on the set of their new film, “Four Christmases.” Apparently they have completely opposite personalities, which no one considered when casting the two as romantic comedy leads. I don’t really consider that a newsflash. Did the casting director even look at these two people? Reese looks like she just came from a magazine cover shoot by 8 a.m. every morning, whereas bloated Vince Vaughn normally looks like you could squeeze the grease from his head.

Spies working on Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn’s new film, “Four Christmases,” say the tension between the stars is even more entertaining than the script of the romantic comedy. Famously alpha personality Reese — who named her production company Type A Films — is clashing with Vaughn’s laid-back approach to work.

“Vince rolls onto set in the morning looking like he just came in from a night out, while Reese will arrive early looking camera-ready,” says our San Francisco source. “Then Reese tries to force Vince into blocking out each scene and running through their lines as Vince tries to convince her that he’s an ad-libber and wants to play around and see where the scene goes.”

However, the movie, about a married couple who spend a Christmas with each of their four divorced parents, remains on schedule and on budget. “She’s a one-take perfectionist and Vince likes to try it a few different ways,” snickers our snitch. “Sometimes Vince will be standing behind her and he has this look on his face that he just wants to kill her!”

[From Gatecrasher]

To me, all the things that were just outlined as Reese’s “faults” are simply being professional. Unless a director says otherwise, I’m under the impression that actors are generally supposed to know their lines, and rehearsing them is probably a good idea. It’s lovely for Vince Vaughn to want to roll out of bed and improvise, but other people have things to do with their day too. It’s not fair to expect someone else to do take after take because that’s fun for you. Unless that’s what the director’s asking for, of course. But Vince Vaughn just sounds lazy to me. There’s just something about the way he speaks and the way he presents himself that says, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about anything. Personal hygiene? Boring. Being a professional at work? Not fun. Putting on a shirt without six holes in it? Sooo last year.” That was my best early-Monday-morning-Vince-Vaughn impression. It could use some work. Either way, I know we’re supposed to hear this gossip and think Reese is an uptight bitch, but I tend to think the problem is more the lazy slob.