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8 Nov 2025 4:14
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  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Reese Witherspoon had panic attacks "for weeks" before filming 'Wild'

    The 45-year-old actress admitted making the 2014 movie - which is based on Cheryl Strayed's memoir about getting her life back together by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail - was the biggest career challenge she's ever faced and she turned to hypnosis to calm her fears before she started work on the project


    Speaking to Tracee Ellis Ross for Interview magazine, she admitted: "I was so scared to do that... I had hypnosis, I was so scared. I was having panic attacks for three weeks before I started.

    “There was the nudity, sexuality, and drug-use aspect, but also being alone on camera with no other actors. I hadn’t ever been alone in scenes for days and days. There were probably 25 days of the shoot where I had no other actor opposite me. It was just me and a camera and a backpack. I was like, ‘Is this going to be so boring?’”

    And the 'Big Little Lies' star admitted making the film changed her forever after pushing her to her limits.

    She said: "I don’t know if I’ll ever work that hard again, but it changed me on a cellular level.”

    But Reese - who has Ava, 21, and Deacon, 17, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, as well as Tennessee, eight, with spouse Jim Toth - thought Cheryl's book was "beautiful and sacred" because it had taught her a lot.

    She said: “[It] was so beautiful and sacred to me because it spoke to me so deeply about how we as women have to save ourselves. There’s no mother or father coming to save us. There’s no spouse.

    "I thought it was radical that at the end of the film, she ends up with no family, no money, no job, no partner, and she’s happy.”

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

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     Today's News

    Business:
    Labour Weekend - and weather - played a big role in consumer spending in October 21:57

    Entertainment:
    Guillermo del Toro says his long-awaited adaptation of Frankenstein feels deeply "autobiographical" 21:37

    Accident and Emergency:
    School children are shaken-up after their bus was involved in a fatal crash with a car in Rotorua's Owhata last night 21:17

    Business:
    Our largest electricity gentailer is welcoming two major announcements for the energy sector 21:17

    Law and Order:
    The Police officer who led the investigation into the murder of Waimate man Anaru Moana is gutted his body hasn't been found 21:17

    Law and Order:
    Three men have been found guilty of murdering Waimate man, Anaru Moana 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Kim Kardashian has no idea what a jacket potato is 21:07

    Law and Order:
    A person's been arrested after armed police swarmed Innes Road in Christchurch's Mairehau this afternoon - called to reports of a gun 21:07

    Law and Order:
    A Virginia jury's awarded 10-million US dollars to a 28-year-old former teacher shot by a six-year-old student 21:07

    Entertainment:
    Olympic gold medallist Dame Denise Lewis secretly split from her music mogul husband Steve Finan two years ago 20:37


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