LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Forbes has recently named Reese Witherspoon as the richest self-made female actor in the world. In their updated 2023 list of "America's Richest Self-Made Women," Witherspoon secured the 59th position and was the only one categorized under 'entertainment'.

Despite her success in the film industry, Witherspoon's personal life has had its challenges. In an era where celebrities often discuss their traumas, she, too, opened up about hers. Witherspoon, known for her roles in films like 'Your Place or Mine' (2023) and 'Legally Blonde' (2001) etc, bravely shared her experience of being sexually assaulted by a Hollywood director when she was only 16 years old.

'[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16'

Witherspoon did not name the director in question but said that the incident was the first of many experiences of "harassment and sexual assault" throughout her career. "I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety, the guilt for not speaking up earlier," she said, per People.

"[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment. And I wish that I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn’t. I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault and I don’t speak about them very often," she added.

Witherspoon reacted to Harvey Weinstein scandal

Witherspoon was motivated to speak out after hearing other women's stories of sexual assault in the film industry. "After hearing all the stories these past few days and hearing these brave women speak up tonight about things that we’re kind of told to sweep under the rug and not to talk about, it’s made me want to speak up and speak up loudly because I actually felt less alone this week than I have ever felt in my entire career," she added.

Witherspoon's comments came after Hollywood was forced to deal with the widespread and normalized abuse of young actresses after the Harvey Weinstein scandal came to light. Weinstein has faced numerous allegations of sexual assault and harassment from multiple women spanning several decades. While he denied many of the claims, the industry is still grappling with the profound impact of these revelations.