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15 Nov 2025 4:00
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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

    Politics:
    The Department of Internal Affairs is calling interference with the Police Minister's emails - inappropriate 21:57

    Entertainment:
    Bre Tiesi "doesn't care" about Chrishell Stause quitting Selling Sunset 21:42

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    One person's critically injured and another is in a moderate condition - after a car rolled on a Far North beach this evening 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Russell Crowe says cutting back on his alcohol intake helped him drop 55lbs 21:12

    Entertainment:
    Britney Spears has returned to Instagram 20:42

    Entertainment:
    Mod Sun says his split from ex-fiancée Avril Lavigne was "brutal" 20:12

    Entertainment:
    The Duffer Brothers have no interest in revisiting the core Stranger Things characters in the future 19:42

    Entertainment:
    Sarah Ferguson has reportedly been "cut adrift" by the royal family and ostracised by high society 19:12

    Business:
    The Prime Minister's again talking about raising the retirement age 18:57

    Entertainment:
    Cheryl Hines has said some of her long-time friends distanced themselves after her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., suspended his presidential campaign last year and announced his support for Donald Trump. 18:42


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