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15 Oct 2025 0:03
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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

    Accident and Emergency:
    One person has died following a crash south of Ward in Marlborough just before 3 this afternoon 21:57

    Entertainment:
    Abducted by Hamas, Noa never lost hope she would see her 'soulmate' again 21:47

    Entertainment:
    Busy Philipps and Joshua Jackson were "giving the people what they want" when they passionately kissed during the Dawson's Creek reunion 21:41

    Law and Order:
    Police have charged a man with murder, over the death of a six-month-old baby in Foxton Beach, in the Manawatu-Whanganui region earlier this year 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Jacob Elordi longs to become a father one day because having kids will make him "the happiest person in the world" 21:11

    Law and Order:
    Tears as freed prisoners reunited with loved ones in Gaza and West Bank 20:57

    Entertainment:
    George R.R. Martin has "always had trouble" with deadlines 20:41

    Entertainment:
    Two men have been charged with the murder of Ian Watkins 20:11

    Entertainment:
    Indie film producers tell SXSW Sydney about how to survive and thrive making horror 19:57

    Entertainment:
    Bella Hadid' felt a "deep sense of shame" over her mental health struggles 19:41


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