Reese Witherspoon shared an update on her father John Witherspoon after the 84-year-old was hospitalized following a fall at his Nashville home.
The Legally Blonde actress shared an update on her dad John Witherspoon’s health after the 84-year-old was hospitalized following a fall at his Nashville home.
“Earlier today, several outlets reported that my dad was taken to the hospital after a fall,” Reese posted to her Instagram Stories Aug. 7. “I want to let everyone know that he is fine now. He is being taken care of by wonderful doctors and nurses.”
“Thank you to everyone who reached out,” the 50-year-old added. “It means the world to our family.”
While Reese did not share any additional information about her father’s fall, a spokesperson for Nashville Metro Emergency Communications confirmed to People that they had received a call about an unconscious man at 4 p.m. local time, noting that he was transported to a nearby hospital.
Throughout her career, the Morning Show actress has often shared how thankful she is that her father John—a retired otolaryngologist and former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel—and mother Betty Witherspoon, a former nurse, were always supportive of the choices she made in her life.
“I had parents who believed I could do anything,” she shared with Marie Claire in 2008, “and I know how that made me feel. I think both my parents, having careers in the medical profession, feel they are helping people on a daily basis, and that was inculcated in me as a value.”
Still, when it came time to make her own career choices, the Oscar winner admitted that she did hesitate about not following in her parents’ footsteps, adding, “I had to struggle with giving up the idea of becoming a doctor myself.”
And while she opted for a career path that was different from her parents’, Reese’s two kids with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, Ava, 26, and Deacon, 22, have both been dabbling in the entertainment world. Plus, as their dad noted, they—along with Reese and ex Jim Toth’s son Tennessee, 14—had a bit of an advantage from watching their parents deal with the difficulties of Hollywood.
“You've gotta have a thick skin,” Ryan told Extra in 2024, adding that his kids “have grown up watching on set with Reese or with me” just how tough performing can be. “There's so much rejection and nasty things that can be said about you. It's not all celebration.”
For more fascinating facts about Reese, keep reading.
1. She was born Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon in 1976 in New Orleans. Reese is actually her mother Betty's maiden name.
2. She is a claimed descendant of John Witherspoon, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, though that claim has not been verified by the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence genealogists.
3. Her father Dr. John Draper Witherspoon served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve and, as result, Reese spent four years of her childhood living in Wiesbaden, Germany.
4. Growing up a dedicated student who loved reading, she earned the nickname "Little Miss Type A" from her parents. She would later launch her own production company with a title that nodded to the moniker, Type A. In a 2005 profile with Interview, however, she clarified the title choice, saying, "It was actually an in-joke with my family because at [age] 7 I understood complicated medical terms, such as the difference between type A and type B personalities. But I just wished I'd named the company Dogfood Films or Fork or something. You carry that baggage all your life."
