Reese Witherspoon revealed she was forced to film a sex scene with Mark Wahlberg for the 1996 film “Fear” – despite her saying no.
“It wasn’t explicit in the script that that’s what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no,” Witherspoon told Harper’s Bazaar in a story published Wednesday.
The “Legally Blonde” actress — who noted she requested a stunt double for the scenes — added that it “wasn’t a particularly great experience.”
“I didn’t have control over it,” she added. “I’m certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative.”
The Oscar-winning actress was 19 years old when she starred alongside a then 25-year-old Wahlberg in the psychosexual thriller. The scene Witherspoon was referring to was when her character, Nicole, has an orgasm on a roller coaster.
Witherspoon, now 47, explained how the whole ordeal inspired her to create her own film production and media company, Hello Sunshine.
“It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking,” she continued. “I think it’s another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from the male gaze.”
Witherspoon reflected on that time of her life and admitted that she was “really unhappy.”
During the interview, the “Big Little Lies” star also discussed her divorce from Jim Toth and explained how she had more “control” when they announced the news in joint statements in March.
“It feels much more authentic to be able to say things in my own voice and not let somebody else control what’s happening,” she said.
Toth and Witherspoon had been married for 12 years and share son Tennessee. The actress also shares daughter Ava and son Deacon with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe
