**By Gill Pringle
The sweetheart of the silver screen talks about the juggling act that is her life…**
Reese Witherspoon can certainly relate to Kate, the young woman she plays in her new film, Four Holidays. Together with her boyfriend Brad (Vince Vaughn), Kate has to endure four festive season celebrations with their respective divorced parents and extended families.
Reese herself was divorced in June this year, ending her nine-year marriage to Ryan Phillippe, whom she met at her 21st birthday party in 1997. The couple share custody of their two children, Ava, 9, and Deacon, 5. For more than a year now, the Avon Global Ambassador has been dating her Rendition co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, 27.
While Kate has a bumpy Christmas ride, 32-year-old Reese hopes for a peaceful, romantic holiday season surrounded by her loved ones.
Four Holidays, which opens in Australia on December 4, also features several other A-list actors such as Mary Steenburgen and Sissy Spacek. Did you enjoy working with them?
It was so fun. It was great to just — and Jon Voight and Robert Duvall. I have the biggest crush on Robert Duvall. He’s such a great Southern guy, — he was so great in The Apostle and Tender Mercies. Big crush. And Sissy was so great too. We talked about playing country singers and stuff like that. There were a lot of Oscars on the set.
Did everybody bring theirs in?
Bring your Oscar to work day?! No, but we should have. It would have been really funny.
Is Christmas and the holidays a happy or stressful time for you?
There’s many stages — first there’s panic. I walked into Starbucks last week and they were already playing Christmas music and I had an absolute panic attack. I was like, “Turn if off! I’m not ready!” I think I have to get through Thanksgiving first, then it starts with the parties then the family. That’s when the family starts trickling, and then you finally get rid of the family and then you get to sleep for a few days, and then it’s New Years. Then it’s all over! You know?!
Do you miss it when it’s all over?
No, I’m not that kinda person. I’m a go-forward gal!
Do you remember, as a child, when you found out there is no Santa?
That for me was in the second grade when Mary-Beth decided to get up and for show and tell told everyone there was no Santa Claus. The whole class burst into tears and she got into a lot of trouble and got sent home.
Did you believe her?
Well, no, because she had to come back the next day and say it wasn’t really true. She was just really lying to hurt people’s feelings. Poor thing. It was a psychological mess.
Do your own kids believe in Santa Claus, and how would you feel if an uncle came to them and told them Santa didn’t exist?
My kids believe in all sorts of things. We have all sorts of fairies for different holidays. Like, we have a Halloween fairy and on top of the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny. I think, “How did this happen that I also have to get more things?” But, yeah, they still do and I don’t know. Kids find out that kind of stuff on their own.
But what if another grown-up told them?
What?! Are you suggesting there’s not a Santa Claus?! Is that what you’re saying? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t want to hear that any more.
Growing up, how did you spend Christmas?
We always had to go to church and nativity plays and all that kind of stuff so growing up. I did a lot of that.
What do you personally enjoy doing at Christmas?
I go to church on Christmas Eve and I like to hear the music and all that kind of stuff, and be quiet and thoughtful about what the holiday really means for me. Then it’s just about family and togetherness. It’s about a lot of cooking and playing games and kids. It’s all about them enjoying their day and doing what they love to do. That’s why it makes it so much better when you have children around you, you can see the joy that they have. Yeah, I think a lot of it is about traditions. We tried to explore each one of those traditions in the film. We had family photos and playing games and all kinds of stuff that people mark as traditions in their family.
What would you like for Christmas this year?
Oh gosh. I have a big garden so I could really use some help because that’s a lot of work. Sometimes I get tired of doing all that stuff but I like it, it’s kind of nice.
So you want a gardener?
Oh yeah, that’d be nice! I have a farm so I like chickens, I’d like an Araucana chicken. That’d be nice — it would lay blue eggs. And I know I’m going to get hounded this year for a horse. I have a feeling I know I’m going to have two little people pulling on my leg going, “Can we have a horse? Can we have a horse?” But, gosh, can’t we just get through Thanksgiving? So much pressure!
There’s a scene in the film where the family has a $10 budget. How would your own family respond to that?
Oh, wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t it be great to record the look on their faces? No, my family always had a thing where everybody always got one thing, whether it was like chocolates or flowers — it would be the nicest little chocolates you could get or the one really nice toy that was beautifully made. It was always about the quality of things and not the quantity of things.
What does family mean to you?
Family is so important. You have to accept them as they are because, honestly, they’re not going to change.
Any other insight into relationships?
The truth is, people tend to evaluate their own relationships in comparison to that of their parents, and that can be a daunting prospect in many ways.
Four Holidays is screening nationally now.
For more of this interview, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale December 8).
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