Winfrey described how Witherspoon—who revealed she was sexually assaulted by a director when she was 16—cried at the mention of Weinstein’s name.
“And I remember Reese saying, ‘Oh god, this is just so upsetting. And someone mentions his name, I start tearing up. And every time I hear someone else speak, it just causes me to be upset and I haven’t slept in two days,’ ” Winfrey said.
“So I said, ‘Jeez, you guys are suffering from PTSD. Did something happen to you?’ Nobody said anything at the time.”
Witherspoon first spoke out about being a victim of sexual harassment and assault at the Elle Women in Hollywood event in October.
“[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment,” she said at the time.
“And I wish that I could tell you that was an isolated incident in my career, but sadly it wasn’t. I’ve had multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault and I don’t speak about them very often.”
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