Reese Witherspoon Divulges She’s Not a Member of the Billionaire’s Club—Yet

No doubt about it, Reese Witherspoon is rich—but she’s not a billionaire (yet, anyway). Per People, “the actress addressed speculation about her finances during an appearance at the INBOUND conference in Boston on Friday,” where she addressed reports that she is a billionaire are wrong. After NBC News Daily anchor Zinhle Essamuah asked her if the rumors were true, Witherspoon said. “That’s enormously flattering, and if I ever touched the bottom of what Oprah’s magic golden boots do, I would be so lucky,” she said.

On Wednesday, news broke that Consortium Brand Partners had acquired a 70 percent ownership stake in Witherspoon’s fashion and lifestyle brand, Draper James, according to Forbes, which also named her the “wealthiest self-made female actor in the world.” In the wake of the sale, speculation mounted that Witherspoon was at or close to joining the billionaire's club, citing especially the 2021 sale of her production company, Hello Sunshine, for $900 million.

Witherspoon opened up a wide range of topics, including rejection: “I think I started so young, and rejection was such an early piece of my life that I learned a long time ago that other people’s opinions of me are none of my business,” she said. “I really don’t care what anybody thinks. I’m gonna do my work anyway. I’m gonna date whoever I want, go hang out with a friend nobody likes. When you release that feeling of other people’s opinions crushing you or holding you down, you’re free. You’re totally free.”

And speaking of friendships, Witherspoon shared her secret to cultivating a strong friend group. “Everybody out there over 40 knows,” she said. “If you aren’t adding to my life, get the heck outta my life.” She advised the audience to “edit your friendships,” adding “my grandma used to say people are radiators or drains. Stick with radiators.”

Witherspoon opened up about the death of female-driven projects in Hollywood, which led her to “put my money where my mouth is” and “actually walk the walk” to launch Hello Sunshine, which, since its 2016 formation, has produced projects like Daisy Jones & The Six, Truth Be Told, and The Morning Show (in which Witherspoon also stars, and the new season of which premieres on Wednesday). 

“I was told not to put my own money in it several times by many, many advisors,” Witherspoon said. “I saw people who were taking money from studios, and I saw how watered down the product was. I saw that they were sitting on material that never got made. And I thought if you were to function and do something differently, you have to think about it differently. And you have to capitalize it differently. So probably about a year and we had two of these three Oscar nominations, we had a television show that got done. And I couldn’t keep the lights on.”

She then turned to her now ex-husband, Jim Toth, to help refine her approach. “I approached my husband at the time and a business partner who retooled the business plan,” Witherspoon said. “And so we went ahead to raise capital, which was a whole lot of asking people for money. It was terrifying. Every day I would wake up and I would do something to further my dream.”

We bet joining that elusive billionaire’s club is something that, if Witherspoon wants it, she’ll get.