Reese Witherspoon isn't a goody two-shoes.
The bubbly blond has often been dubbed "America's Sweetheart," but just like Britney Spears sang in 2000's "Oops! I Did It Again," she's not that innocent. "I certainly didn't self-identify as anyone's sweetheart. I'm friendly, but I don't think I'm sweet," Witherspoon says in Glamour's January 2015 issue. "I'm honest."
Though Witherspoon won an Academy Award in 2006 for her dramatic turn as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line, she is most often associated with comedies like Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama. In an effort to challenge herself, both personally and professionally, she signed on for her meatiest role yet in Wild, which was adapted from Cheryl Strayed's best-selling memoir of the same name. "I was scared of the really emotional scenes. I was scared of the sexuality. I was scared of the grittiness and of being bare on-screen. It's not just about having no makeup on your face, like I did in the film," Witherspoon recalls.
No longer concerned with vanity, she could focus on the role. "It's about not being conscious of how you're perceived, allowing yourself to be broken, the way she did so fearlessly in the book," she says.
In real life, Witherspoon strives to be just as fearless.
"I don't think I realized [in my twenties] that no one else makes you whole," she explains. "You have to take responsibility for your own happiness. That took me until I was about 31 to know. It wasn't easy to realize, 'Oh wait, I am purely responsible [for my life]'—no relationship, no children, no nothing is going to make you a happy person. Every day you have to choose to find and cultivate your own happiness."
After finding that happiness, Witherspoon met and married Jim Toth. "I have to say a very healing part of my life is my wonderful husband, Jim. It's really wonderful being with somebody who supports me, who loves me, who is my No. 1 fan. That is such an incredible experience," the twice-wed actress says. "You have to be ready for those things. I had to be in a place where I felt all those things about myself."
Witherspoon's husband isn't her only source of support, though. "I am so, so lucky to have girlfriends who, when I was on the floor crying, upset about things that happened in my life, came over, stood me up, put me in the shower, put my clothes on, took my kids to school, brought me dinner. You know? I love my girlfriends, and I protect those relationships fiercely," the This Means War star tells Glamour.
She's even more protective of her three kids (two with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe and one with Toth). "I don't think there's been an hour of my life since Ava was born that I don't think of my kids," Witherspoon says. "I call it my CNN ticker tape: Is Ava OK? Yes. Is Deacon OK? Yes. Is Tennessee OK? Yes. Back to Ava."
Glamour's January 2015 issue is on newsstands Dec. 9 and is available now digitally.