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19 Dec 2025 22:09
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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:
    Emergency services are responding to a serious crash involving a motorcycle on State Highway 35 near Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty 21:57

    Entertainment:
    Kylie Jenner is refusing to "live for whatever everyone else wants" her to do 21:50

    Entertainment:
    Lauren Cowell has joked a funeral could come before a wedding "at the rate we're going" 21:20

    Law and Order:
    Police are urging anyone with information to come forward, following suspected arson at Invercargill's Queens Park around two weeks ago 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Gene Simmons has apologised for stating that former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley died as a result of "bad decisions" 20:50

    Entertainment:
    Julia Louis-Dreyfus felt "backed into a corner" to reveal her cancer diagnosis 20:20

    Entertainment:
    Jamie Lee Curtis will be taking a break from social media over the Christmas period 19:50

    Entertainment:
    Melissa Joan Hart was fired twice in one night during "one of the worst days" of her life 19:20

    Law and Order:
    A former travel agent has been sentenced to 13 months' home detention after deceiving her employers and acquaintances 18:57

    Entertainment:
    Amanda Seyfried has "done a lot of therapy" 18:50


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