One thing you need to know about Reese Witherspoon is that she is not the person you want to come running to if a bully kicks your ass. This even includes her own kids. In an interview with Good Morning America, Reese said that she wants children to tease her kids and bully them. I am assuming bullying means kicking their ass, but she could just mean stealing their lunch money. Hell, if I was a bully I would go after the Witherspoon lunch money everyday. How many kids are going to be rolling around with a $20 bill in their pocket in 2nd grade for lunch? Not many, and so I don't think Reese is going to have any problems with bullies targeting her kids.
"I wouldn't want my children to miss out on any of that teasing and bullying and don't you think it kind of makes you who you are?
"This drives me crazy about today. Everyone wins the award and then, you know, everybody's an MVP (Most Valuable Player)? No! They're not! Okay? I distinctly recall the two weeks of crying because I didn't make the softball team. It made me interesting, you know?" she added.
Two weeks of crying? I would have thought she would have cried less when she and Ryan split. Two weeks about a softball team? You think maybe Reese is just a wee bit competitive? I'm wondering if her role in Election wasn't so much about good acting as it was a reflection of her true personality. I read comments like this and I think to myself, damn, I wonder how many people she stepped over, punched, and kicked the crap out of in Hollywood because she wanted that role. Watch your brake lines when you are competing against Reese for a role.
Also, I think it is kind of funny that Ryan is out making the rounds shilling for his new film, and spilling about their marriage, so lo and behold, here comes Reese allowing herself to be interviewed and asked questions about her marriage as well. No one said Reese was stupid. If you are GMA, who do you want to interview more? Yep, which is why Ryan is being forced to promote through magazines and Reese gets morning network television.
Here is a link to the interview, or at least portions of it. If you can suffer through the ads, you can see it. I actually couldn't bother to sit through the ads, but I probably could if I was bored. Your decision.
Filmmaker Kevin Smith has a whole chapter on Reese Witherspoon in his memoir. Based on several personal experiences with her, Smith does not hold back on the Reese-hating. She comes across as a total Mean Girl type.
ReplyDeleteMore misinterpretation of what and how somebody said something. I found the clip where George Clooney says something about the pecking order of actors and it's not at all how it was portrayed here.
ReplyDeleteI totally get what she means. There are parents who try to fix everything for their kids instead of letting their kids experience life as it comes at them, whether it's not winning, not making the team, or being teased. It's gotten so bad that some schools aren't giving grades anymore, just "Passed" because they don't want anyone to feel bad about themselves. It's total bullshit.
She's one person who seems truly grounded. I don't know why she's being targeted, but that, too, seems like total bullshit.
Oh please.....it's totally being blown out of proportion. I think what she is trying tosay is that she doesn't want her kids to get a "free ride" because of who their mother is. Teasing and bullying, although not a pleasent part of life, is human nature. It actually builds a tough skin, and yeah, who said being competitive was a bad thing?
ReplyDeleteI also agree fully with her feelings on kids and organized sports. I didn't always get picked for the basketball team.....and you know what? I'm ok. It actually gave me the drive to get better and come back the next season.
I don't think Reese is America's sweetheart like she'd like you to think...she has gotten tons of bad press for her crap behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteI watched an interview with her on Poprah around Walk the Line times and she made me gag with her fake ass southern belle BS. Little Miss Perfect ym ass...we once said that baout Meg Ryan too.
IMO.
Whether she's America's sweetheart or not, posting this IS blowing it out of proportion, so it's okay to call bullshit on it.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm sorry, but I don't agree with any of you. Bullying and ragging on kids in school is the reason why we had things like Columbine in the first place. The people who say it's okay and life-forming to be bullied obviously don't know what it's like to truly be bullied, beat up, made fun of every single day of their school life. I'm not trying to come off as mean-spirited here, but I think it's irresponsible to condone talking about bullying like you would talk about, say, punishing your child - like it will teach them some sort of lesson. It doesn't - it makes them insecure people who never forget how horrible their school years were.
ReplyDeleteI'm with ya Janele - I think I get the premise of her thoughts - which is yes, to teach your kids that life isn't always roses (well, maybe for hers - it will be!) but I would never EVER say that I hope my kids are bullied. Nothing gets my fur standing up on my back than to think about my sweet little boys being bullied or harrassed!! I do agree with her statements on sports, everyone being a winner, etc. That's all true!!
ReplyDeleteJanele, I don't think Reese or any of us meant extreme hate bullying, which is what you're talking about. My son was picked on by the same kid which equals bullying, but I worked with him so he wasn't taking it personally and had perfect little comebacks. When the bully saw he wasn't getting a reaction anymore, he moved on. If I taught my son this was something to be upset about, he would have gotten the wrong message. THAT'S the kind of thing being discussed, not Columbine, for God's sake.
ReplyDeleteWhat Miss Tri-Delt means is that her kids should be allowed to tease ruthlessly as a part of the same character growing process she used to become America's Sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteLouise and Twisted - I get what you're saying and I didn't mean to come off as attacking the people discussing the issue on here. I just get pissed sometimes when people throw bullying out there and say it's a learning experience and get over it. I mean, yes, I was bullied ruthlessly for years in school. I didn't go Columbine on them, which I could very well have if I had lived in a school or an area where guns were available to me. My parents tried so hard to teach me little comebacks and stuff for the verbal bullying, but most of the time it was straight up physical abuse. So I'm very sensitive to the fact that the word "bullying" is not just to be thrown out there like Reese talks about it. It upsets me that someone in her position would use that word so lightly when there are kids out there who are truly pushed around in school and don't have anyone coming to their defense. Instead of saying things like "I wouldn't want my children to miss out on any of that teasing and bullying" she needs to step back and thank her lucky stars that her children do not go through what people like me went through. It's an experience that is, although life-forming in some aspects, very humbling and forces you into a life where you are seldomly able to trust another person no matter how genuine they may be. One never forgets when they were treated so horribly, and although I am over the physical aspects of it, I do feel the need to come to the defense of the children who are physically abused by classmates. Someone needs to.
ReplyDeleteI don't like this post any more than I liked the Clooney post. Just not fun. And thanks Janele for standing up for kids who have nobody to stand up for them. The extreme bullying is way out of hand in many places.
ReplyDeleteJanele, I think there are two sides to the discussion. My son was bullied and I never ever would have complained to anyone because I wanted to teach him to stand up for himself and deal with the lifetime of assholes he would be facing. The other issue, though, is I would never tolerate it if one of my kids ever bullied or ragged on another kid. What she's saying, I agree with. Let your kids face real life instead of trying to fix everything for them, the way parents seem to want to do these days. Don't blow what she's saying out of proportion is our only point. (but I don't feel attacked, I know you're too nice to do that, Janele)
ReplyDelete_-_=_, yeah, that Clooney post, once I saw the clip on youtube, which actually involved SEVERAL actors and was a point that Daniel Day-Lewis brought up and G.C. agreed with - it really pissed me off how that whole thing was blown WAY out of proportion. Luckily, I found the clip quite by accident or I wouldn't have known.
I've never liked Reese Witherspoon and probably never will. Sure, some people and institutions can be too soft and over-protective. But I think Enty, Nancy, Jax, Janelle et al. are right on the mark with this one.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at any pap pictures of Reese's daughter Ava (whether she is aware of the photogs or not), 9 times out of 10 she is unsmiling and not happy. It is not normal for a child at her age to be sullen most of the time. Something is definitely wrong there. And I'm not talking necessarily at school.
Btw I'm a longtime lurker and this is my first post. I've enjoyed reading most of your comments, whether I agree with them or not.
When I watched her gret her Oscar, I said to everyone "Oh my God. She IS Tracey Flick"
ReplyDeleteBreck - How do you know she's sullen? Just because she's not all smiling and giggly?
ReplyDeleteI didn't smile much at that age either but I wasn't morose or unhappy - I just didn't smile that often. Meh.
I make no judgement call on her kids happiness.
And to something ENT said - her 'crying for two weeks' I don't think meant sobbing in her bed. And she could have meant when she was 10 - I played softball when I was that young. And you had to try out for teams.
Whining and being unhappy about something for two weeks isn't that outrageous, nor does it make her unreasonably competitive.
I think Reese is very strong and very driven. I think that sometimes she forgets that other people aren't like her. So for her what felt like tolerable amounts of 'normal kid teasing and bullying' might be horribly oppressive to someone else.
I think she meant that she didn't want her kids to get an easy ride and she wanted them properly socialized with their peers. Children of celebrities are often either coddled and never told anything negative or they're treated like crap because people assume they want to be coddled...
I think she wants them to be 'normal' and hopes that interacting with their peers without being babied will do that.
Man, I'm long winded today.
Breck, a lot of kids look serious and are very well adjusted and happy. Geeze, let's not start doing faux psychoanalysis on children now, just because you don't like their parents.
ReplyDeleteAnd welcome, by the way! Glad you're out of lurkdom and hope you keep posting!
Bullying has been around FOREVER. You know what hasn't? Parents that are BFFs with their kids rather than authority figures. Parents that would rather lie than admit their kid might be wrong. Parents that watch their child misbehave and turn back to their smartphone to Facebook fake crap about what great quality time their having. The statistics are that the reaction to bullying has changed. Changed primarily by the fact that in general parents are destroying the future adults of this country. Rant over.
ReplyDelete