‘Run Away From A Man Who Can’t Handle Your Ambition’ – Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon is on the cover of Glamour Magazine’s October 2017 issue.

In her interview, the 41-year-old actress talks about inequality in Hollywood, helping women grow and recognizing her privilege as a white woman.

See excerpts below.

On identifying her privilege as a white woman in the Industry

“Another thing I think about a lot is how it feels to be a minority woman in America so rarely seeing yourself onscreen and it’s unconscionable. When I asked Mindy Kaling, ‘Don’t you ever get exhausted by always having to create your own roles?’ she said, ‘Reese, I’ve never had anything that I didn’t create for myself.’ I thought, Wow, I feel like a jerk for asking that; I used to have parts that just showed up for me. I can’t imagine how hard it is to write your own parts and simultaneously have to change people’s perceptions of what a woman of color is in today’s society.”

On women being Ambitious

“What the heck is wrong with being ambitious? I have been ambitious all my life. In fact, I vividly remember telling my third-grade teacher that I wanted to be the first female president of the United States. Ambition is simply a drive inside of you—it’s having a curiosity or a new idea and the desire to pursue it.”

On her advice to women dating a man that can’t handle that

“Run away from a man who can’t handle your ambition. Run. So many men think ambition is awesome and sexy!”

On challenges faced in Hollywood today

“I’ve also had studio heads say to me, ‘We don’t want to make biopics about women,’ or more simply, ‘We’re not interested in female-driven material.’ (My first go-round as a producer with Gone Girl? Every studio passed but one. When the book hit number one on the best seller lists, it was a different story.)”