Reese Witherspoon is setting the record straight about her finances.
On Wednesday, news broke that Consortium Brand Partners has acquired a 70% stake in Witherspoon’s fashion and lifestyle brand Draper James, according to Forbes. Forbes also named her “the richest self-made actress in the world”.
Following the sale, some media outlets suggested that the 47-year-old actress may be close to joining the billionaires’ club, especially considering that her production company Hello Sunshine was sold for $900 million in 2021.
But Witherspoon shut down those rumors during a sit-down with NBC News Daily host Zinhle Essamuah in Boston on Friday.
“I didn’t,” he said of recent speculation that he has become a billionaire. “They are wrong.”
He added: “It’s extremely flattering and if I can live up to what Oprah’s magic golden boots have done, I’ll be very lucky.”
During a conversation at HubSpot’s annual INBOUND meeting, morning show The actress also shared her perspective on how to deal with rejection, something she encounters a lot in Hollywood.
“I think I started so young and rejection was such an early part of my life that I learned a long time ago that other people’s opinions of me were none of my business,” she said.
Witherspoon continued: “I really don’t care what anyone thinks. I will still do my job. I’ll date whoever I want, I’ll hang out with a friend no one likes. You are free when you release the feeling that you are oppressed or oppressed by the opinions of others. You are completely free.”
He also revealed the secret to building a strong inner circle. “Everyone over the age of 40 knows. If you don’t add anything to my life, get out of my life.”
“Regulate your friendships,” Witherspoon advised viewers, adding: “My grandmother said people were radiators or drains. Stick to radiators.”
The mission of Friday’s INBOUND conference was to “focus on human connection to foster transformative growth, meaningful conversations, and actionable insights.” The event will feature “industry-spanning icons, marketing [and] sales leaders, wellness experts and acclaimed authors” to Boston.
While speaking to Essamuah, Witherspoon talked about the lack of female-focused projects in Hollywood, which led her to “put my money where my mouth is” and “actually walk the walk” and start the production company that became Hello Sunshine.
It is behind projects such as the media company founded in 2016. Daisy Jones and Six, Morning Show, To tell the truthAnd from scratch.
“Many advisors have told me over and over that I shouldn’t invest my own money. I’ve seen people taking money from studios and I’ve seen how watered down the product is. I saw that they were focusing on material that had never been done,” Witherspoon explained of her decision to personally invest in the production company Hello Sunshine.
He continued, “And I thought if you’re going to work and do things differently, you have to think about it differently. And you have to capitalize it differently. We probably got two of those three Oscar nominations for about a year, we had a television show that ended. And I couldn’t keep the lights on.”
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Witherspoon later shared that she thanked her ex-husband Jim Toth for helping her hone her approach.
“I approached my husband and a business partner at the time and redid the business plan. And so we continued to raise capital, which meant asking people for money. “It was terrible,” he said. “Every day I would wake up and do something to further my dreams.”