The Little Fires Everywhere star also reminisced over how she didn't know if she was going to have "steady work" back then.
"I'd made movies but I hadn't, you know, established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kids' school", she admitted.
"I didn't have any real power, leverage within my industry," she recalled. "I was just like every other mom trying to figure it out—and dad out there, and partner, and grandparent who's raising a child."
Needless to say, Witherspoon's diligence clearly paid off. While juggling motherhood, Witherspoon has since starred in her fair share of hit films, such as Legally Blonde (and the sequel), Sweet Home Alabama and won an Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter in Walk The Line.
And while Witherspoon said parenting involves a lot of compromising, she noted she wouldn't have it any other way.
"You take the food out of your mouth, the clothes off your back, the sleep out of your life," she told Barrymore.
"But every bit of it—every bit of that sacrifice is truly worth it because you feel like that's what makes me wake up on a Sunday. It's not movies or my job, it's my kids."