Reese Witherspoon's Southern Charm

We had lots of people over for lunch, including Laura Dern [Witherspoon’s close friend and costar in Wild and Big Little Lies] and her mom, [actress] Diane Ladd, who has become friends with my mom. It’s pretty cute—they really love each other and talk all the time. They’re even planning on taking a road trip together!

In my family, we say, “It doesn’t have to be true to be told.” At lunch, my mom was telling a story about when I moved out here and how she found my apartment and paid for it. I said, “Mom, you know none of that’s true, right?” I found my own apartment, and she did not do any of it! But most of the time, I don’t even bother to interrupt…I think there’s nothing better than a Southern person as they age. The stories get better and better and less and less true.

You often visit Nashville, where you’ve said you’re “so much more relaxed.” But Nashville is not nearly as relaxed—or sleepy— as it was when you were growing up there. How has it changed?

Lately, Nashville has experienced a lot more commerce, a lot of growth, and a lot of new ideas, which is awesome. And you can’t throw a rock without hitting some new culinary surprise. I like Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. Edley’s Bar-B-Que has great fried okra, one of my favorite foods. City House and Rolf and Daughters are really good, and Josephine is great for brunch. Five Daughters Bakery has the best doughnuts, and if we want a meat ’n’ three, we go to Swett’s Restaurant.

Reading a book in galleys and then getting it all the way to the finished product is not for the faint of heart, but it makes it that much more rewarding. With Big Little Lies, especially, it was great to work with all those wonderful women (including Dern, Nicole Kidman, and Shailene Woodley). We learned more about each other at night over wine. We didn’t rehearse; we’d just go to dinner! I think people saw themselves [in the show]. I think men discovered how women really feel about marriage and relationships and each other. I mean, when was the last time you got to see women really talk about complex issues?

That’s a great question. I don’t really know. Other than sometimes I get a wild hair and an idea that won’t leave me alone, and this is one of them. I love it. It’s also good for my brain to do something other than be in a movie. I’m 41 years old, I’ve been making movies since I was 14, and I needed something else. I love what I do, but sometimes you need to meet different kinds of people. It also brought me back to my roots—I get to travel all over the South.

Also, don’t you get tired of everything fashion related being based in New York and Los Angeles? There are people all over the country who are interesting and interested in fashion, and I thought, “Why not create great designs that mirror and value those kinds of lives?” I like telling these American stories.

Reese is wearing the Southern Living dress from Draper James. $195; draperjames.com

I spent so many afternoons after school at her house. She taught me just about everything. My grandmother taught me how to cook and how to read. She would read all the different voices of each character in each book. I think she kinda taught me how to be an actress. And then she’d take me to downtown Nashville for shopping trips all the time. She loved buying shoes. She didn’t own a pair of pants and wore pearls every single day.

My grandmother was from Cookeville, Tennessee, and my grandfather was from Midlothian, Texas. They met in Nashville while attending Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, where they both got master’s degrees in education in 1942. The confusing thing was that my grandmother got this master’s degree—she was very smart, book smart, you know—but there wasn’t anything for her to do with it afterward. She couldn’t really get a job as anything other than a preschool teacher. She taught preschool and first grade for four or five years, and then she had kids, and back then you stayed home with your kids. So I think, in a way, I’m living the life that she didn’t get a chance to live. She wanted me to do great things and to travel and be accomplished. I was 22 when she died, so she’d seen my work and was proud of me. She even recorded all my movies on her Betamax. She talked about me to the ladies at the hair salon. I feel like a lot of storytelling came to me from going with her to the salon, Mr. Ray’s, every Tuesday. I remember the women sitting around for hours just talking. It was slow, and they would do the wash and the set and sit under the dryer. She had a standing appointment, and she’d drive there in her white Cadillac, wearing gloves.

Reese is wearing Hollis Cape Jacket and Tootsie Jeans in Blue Ridge Wash by Draper James. $325 and $168; draperjames.com

I think so. There’s so much curiosity about the South right now. And it’s not the same South that you and I grew up in. It’s more inclusive. I think our region has transformed into much more of a place filled with new cultural ideas and attitudes. But Southerners still come together and take care of each other; there is such a great sense of community. I think the South is also a quintessentially very funny place—people don’t take themselves too seriously. The ability to laugh at yourself is a real survival instinct.

Reese is wearing Fleurette Sleeve Sweater and Tootsie Jeans in River Rinse Wash by Draper James. $165 and $168; draperjames.com

We have three dogs: a German shepherd called Nashville; a chocolate Lab called Hank Williams, who swims all day in the pool; and a little French bulldog—Ava’s dog—called Pepper.

The kids all have funny and unique relationships with each other. Ava is like another parent to Tennessee, like his other mother. I think sometimes he even gets confused—he told  Ava “Happy Mother’s Day!” And Tennessee is just sort of like Deacon’s protégé. He follows his older brother around the house all day.

Of course, I noticed that one of your dogs and one of your kids are named for your hometown. What’s that about?

You think I want to go home? You think I miss it? [She asks, laughing.] Also, Tennessee Williams is one of my favorite playwrights. My own Tennessee is trying to learn how to spell his name right now. We were over at the preschool, and the teachers were saying that sometimes he just quits and writes “Toth” instead.

Reese is wearing Tootsie Jeans in Blue Ridge Wash by Draper James. $168; draperjames.com

The role of June Carter [for which she received an Oscar in Walk the Line] was a real gift to me because I had always dreamed of being a country music singer. When I was growing up, I wanted to be Tammy Wynette. I wanted to be Dolly Parton. Dolly was my first idol. I remember being 5 years old, and my PE teacher at Harding Academy asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said, “I want to be Dolly Parton.” I was dead serious. No laughing. I remember watching Sissy Spacek play Loretta Lynn. That was a big moment for me. Watching other women who talked like me on film was really formative for my acting career. When Holly Hunter spoke like a woman from Georgia in Broadcast News, she didn’t change her voice or her accent for the role. I was like, “Oh, you can do this in your own voice.” Because when I first got out here, I was told to flatten my accent completely. People said, “You’re never going to get work like that. You’ll always be typecast.” I mean, at times I had to learn to change it—Elle Woods [her character in Legally Blonde], for example, doesn’t talk like me because she’s from California. I’ve also taken on some English roles. Right now, I notice my Southern accent is [stronger] because my mom’s in town. I should make like her and boss that writer: “Listen here—I’m gonna make you write a show for me if it’s the last thing I do!”

That sounds like something your heroine Ms. Parton might say!There’s a reason the Draper James line includes a tote that’s emblazoned with “What would Dolly do?”!Wardrobe Styling: Petra Flannery/Two Management; Prop Styling: Naomi and Johnny Set Design; Hair: Lona Vigi/Starworks Artists; Makeup: Kelsey Deenihan/The Wall Group