Reese Witherspoon Advises Women to 'Run Away' From Men Who Can't Handle Their Ambition
Reese Witherspoon is oozing girl power!
Rocking a Miu Miu faux fur coat, Wilfred Free for Aritzia bodysuit and dazzling Celine earring, the 41-year-old actress stuns on the cover of Glamour's October issue. Inside the magazine, the Big Little Lies star gives readers a pep talk on the power of female ambition in a beautifully written, first-person essay.
WATCH: Reese Witherspoon Stuns With Daughter at 'Home Again' Premiere, Talks 'Mindy Project' Came
Offering up advice on what do in a relationship, Witherspoon believes it's important for women to grow -- and to not downplay their career ambitions in front of the opposite sex.
"Run away from a man who can't handle your ambition," she advises. "Run. So many men think ambition is awesome and sexy!"
"We have to do our part to change the idea that a woman with passion and ambition is only out for herself," she continues. "So, talk to your kids about ambition as a positive trait in men and women."
Photo: Emma Summerton/Glamour
Photo: Emma Summerton/Glamour
The mother of three continues on, writing that, as women, all we can do to create change is "work hard."
"That's my advice: Just do what you do well," she says. "If you're a producer, you've got to produce. If you're a writer, you've got to write. If you're in corporate America, keep working hard to bust through the glass ceiling."
"If you want our voices to be represented in government -- and I think we're all getting behind that idea now -- encourage women to run and help them with their campaigns," she adds. "If you're one of those people who has that little voice in the back of her mind saying, 'Maybe I could do [fill in the blank],' don't tell it to be quiet. Give it a little room to grow, and try to find an environment it can grow in."
Photo: Emma Summerton/Glamour
Photo: Emma Summerton/Glamour
And Witherspoon is taking her own advice, every day. Five years ago, she started a production company with the intention of creating more roles for women, both onscreen and behind the scenes.
"Today, I have something like 23 projects in the works, driven by great female characters of different ages and races," she explains. "I think it’s worth noting, I self-funded my production company for years. I think there's this fallacy that because I've been an actor, people are going to hand me stuff. Nobody hands me anything. I'll wake up earlier; I'll stay up later. I will put my money where my mouth is. I have to read faster, and I respond quicker than other producers. I have to call and call and call executives until they say yes to my projects."
"I have never been on the job with so many women, ever," she continues. "Women ran the sets of the next two movies I'm appearing in. On Home Again, I was lucky enough to work with Nancy Meyers -- one of the most successful female writers, directors, and producers of our time, who has made some of my favorite movies…and her daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the 30-year-old first-time filmmaker who wrote and directed the movie."
"The second film is A Wrinkle in Time, which was written by Jennifer Lee, who wrote Frozen, and directed by Ava DuVernay, who directed the award-winning films Selma and 13th," Witherspoon adds. "Ava is making history as the first African American woman to direct a movie with a budget of over $100 million, and she is creating a world where an African American girl, Storm Reid, is the hero of a huge supernatural story about good versus evil."
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