Reese Witherspoon has expressed sympathy for the people connected to abusers who have been exposed as part of the #MeToo movement.
The actor and producer was speaking about her new Apple TV series, The Morning Show, which is about a news programme that becomes embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal and explained why it’s important to consider #MeToo from every angle.
“As artists, we try to find the shreds of humanity in any crisis and open people’s minds to see all sides of things,” Witherspoon told Harper’s Bazaar.
"What does it mean to be a person who loses their entire life? Their family. Their career? The #MeToo movement has been so emotional on all sides. I remember talking to women and holding them while they cried.
“I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be the spouse or the child of one of these people who was exposed.”
As for the perpetrators themselves, the Big Little Lies star said the main question people should be asking is: “Where is the contrition?”
Witherspoon continued: “How are they supposed to behave? We deal with all of these questions as the season goes on.”
Jennifer Aniston is an executive producer on the series along with Witherspoon; the two met on the set of Friends 20 years ago.
“I was 23 years old and had just had a baby,” Witherspoon recalled in the interview.
“I was nursing Ava on set, and Jen just kept going, ‘You have a baby?’ I was like, ‘I know, it’s weird.’ And I remember her being like, ‘Where are you going?’ And I was like, ‘I’m pumping!’.”
The actor explained how Aniston was an ally to her on the set of the US sitcom and the two became firm friends from that point on.
“I was really nervous, and she was like, ‘Oh, my gosh – don’t worry about it!’ I marvelled at her ability to perform in front of a live audience like that with no nerves,” Witherspoon said.
“They would change all the lines and she was just so effortlessly affable, bubbly, and sunny. We’ve been friends ever since.”
