Reese Witherspoon is "happiest" in the south

She said: "When I was a little girl in pigtails and Coke-bottle glasses, I imagined that when I one day left the South, I would see the world and do important things. Well, I didn’t become president, but I did become president of a production company that makes movies and TV shows with strong female characters. And I have travelled all around the world, to places I never dreamt I’d go. Still, now that I’ve seen the world, you know where I’m happiest? In the South. In Nashville. Surrounded by friends. Listening to country music. A glass of sweet tea in one hand and a barbecue sandwich in the other. Back when I was younger, I fought to lose my accent. But today I’m so proud of where I’m from."

And the 42-year-old actress loves finding new ways to "onjure up the South’s spirit" wherever she is in the world.

Writing in her book Whiskey in a Teacup, as shared in The Sunday Times magazine, she added: "Over the years I’ve found ways to conjure up the South’s spirit wherever I happen to be. I take it everywhere I go, with bluegrass, big holiday parties and plenty of Dorothea’s fried chicken. It’s become sort of an obsession of mine, spreading the gospel of southern living. My southern heritage informs my whole life

- how I value generosity, how I decorate my house, not to mention how I talk, dance and do my hair. Southern women are famous for big hair.

Not for nothing do we like the saying “the higher the hair, the closer to God”. One thing every southern woman knows how to do: hot-roller her hair. You learn young, and it’s like being invited into a secret society of womanhood when your elders teach you. With great ceremony I recently handed this down to my daughter. Her reaction? She thinks I’m nuts and says irons are much easier. To each her own, that’s what I say."