Reese Witherspoon Speaks the Truth: Mental Health Issues Among Women are Glorified

An exercise for all the ladies reading this: Think about a time in your life when you felt the most successful — a time you were crushing it professionally and hitting all those societal benchmarks of success.

Now think about what your mental health was like at the time. 

I'm guessing it probably wasn't at an all-time high. If you're anything like me at least, you’ve been praised and rewarded the most, especially in professional settings, when you’re neglecting your mental health the most. I’m not alone here: Reese Witherspoon just shed light on how this holds up for her too.

"I was probably successful because I had so much anxiety. They go hand in hand," Witherspoon said during an interview with Harper's Bazaar UK. "I had pressured myself to extreme levels to show up at work in a perfect way. We all now know, perfect is not attainable. It’s not sustainable. I stressed myself out in service of my job, and it got me really, really far. I’m rewarded for my anxiety and perfectionism."

The line between drive and unhealthy perfectionism is razor thin for women. I’ve witnessed so many fellow women be rewarded for their unhealthiest habits: Working around the clock, indulging in perfectionism, being so openly anxious and high-strung — and so I've internalized the idea that in order to follow in those footsteps, I have to do the same.

We are just starting to talk about all the ways hustle culture has truly affected women, and Witherspoon’s admission is such a powerful one. Because even a woman who has achieved so much and seems to have it all together understands that too often for women, success comes at the cost of your mental health — and that we’ve historically rewarded women when they sacrifice their mental well-being in order to be considered worthy of that success.

But Witherspoon is leaning into a healthier approach. 

“I’m getting older,” she said. “And am starting to relax into the idea that I’m enough.”