How Leaving an Abusive Relationship Changed Reese Witherspoon’s Life

During an interview on Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday, the actress revealed that leaving an abusive relationship was the most difficult decision she has ever made.

According to Witherspoon, the person psychologically and verbally abused her on multiple occasions. She says she finally left when “A line got drawn in the sand and it got crossed, and my brain just switched and I knew it was going to be very difficult but I just couldn’t go any further.”

Without this moment, Witherspoon believes she wouldn’t be the person she is today. “It changed who I was on a cellular level, the fact that I stood up for myself.” Since then, she has regained her self-esteem and the ambition that the person in her past once tried to take away from her.

Oprah also opened up about being in a verbally abusive relationship, stating that, “I lived in that superior, better-than-thou space where, ‘As long as he doesn’t hit me, he can say anything, he can do anything, but as long as he doesn’t hit me.’ ” It wasn’t until her hand was slammed in a door when she realized she was in an abusive relationship.

Talking about such dark and troublesome parts of one’s past is always difficult. So, we definitely commend Reese Witherspoon and Oprah for opening up about these issues. Hopefully, through their stories, they can empower women going through the same struggles they once did.