Reese Witherspoon shares handling ‘high anxiety’, ‘bad panic attacks’

Reese Witherspoon is opening up about her longtime struggles with anxiety and the tools that have helped her find calm.

The Morning Show star, 49, joined Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on the Sept. 17 episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, where she described herself as “a high-anxiety person.” 

She revealed that her anxiety often showed up in performance-driven ways. 

“Like, you have to perform. You have to show up, which is a lot of my anxiety,” she said. “I used to have panic attacks, bad panic attacks, like crying.”

Witherspoon explained that she tried different approaches to manage it, including meditation, which she admitted was difficult because of her ADHD symptoms. 

She also turned to Ativan for relief but said it left her feeling disconnected. 

“It would make me feel like a zombie. I wasn’t performing at the level I wanted to, and I wasn’t as funny,” she recalled, while adding, “If you need medicine, please take the medicine … I’m not a doctor.”

The Oscar winner said everything shifted when, at 34, she started working with a hypnotist trained in neurolinguistic programming (NLP). 

“She helped me realize that I was going to get the same result, but I could get rid of all the anxiety in the middle,” Witherspoon shared. Calling it “life-changing,” she said the method allowed her to stop carrying unnecessary stress into her work.

“The cornerstone of that work is understanding that you’re gonna perform at the same level whether you’re stressed about it or not stressed about it. So decide to take the stress out,” she explained.

One of her go-to tools is a simple visualization exercise. 

“You talk to yourself after you’ve completed the task. You’ve done this show. You’re walking backstage … and you’re happy. And so, you kind of just tell yourself ahead of time, we’re gonna get there.”

Witherspoon also highlighted the importance of letting compliments in as a way to fight self-doubt. 

“Just sit down at the end of the night, maybe even circle certain texts or take a screenshot, and give yourself a moment and let it in,” she said. “Because you really are that talented. And you really, really deserve where you’re at.”

Reflecting on how real anxiety feels for many people, she added, “I see girls going through it or guys going through it and they post videos, and I wanna hug them. It makes me wanna cry because it’s very real, and you’re not alone. There’s tools to calm yourself down.”

Witherspoon is currently starring in season four of The Morning Show, which premiered on Apple TV+ the same day as her podcast appearance.