Celebrity
Reese Witherspoon’s Throwback To Her First-Ever Photo Shoot Is Adorable
Naturally, appearing in Seventeen magazine was her dream in the ’90s.
Like any girl of the ’90s, Reese Witherspoon once had dreams of appearing in Seventeen magazine. Unlike most of her contemporaries, though, she actually did it. Adorably, she’s still proud of that accomplishment, which she demonstrated by finding the photo shoot and posting it to her Instagram to share with her 28 million followers on Oct. 16.
The Oscar winner threw it back to 1991, when her first film, The Man in the Moon, came out. She appeared in Seventeen to promote the coming-of-age drama, joined by her co-star Emily Warfield. At the time, Witherspoon would have been about 15 years old, and it was her “very first photo shoot ever,” as she wrote in her Instagram caption.
“I can’t believe I found this photo,” she added, in part. “I remember thinking I was going to pass out from excitement, because all I ever wanted was to be in Seventeen magazine.”
Witherspoon’s words had some wisdom, too — specifically, an inspirational message about the merits of pressing on. “I had no idea where this journey would take me,” she said. “A reminder to keep going because you never know what’s next!” (For her, of course, the journey led to an uber-successful career as an actor and producer.)
The throwback photo delighted her followers, including a bunch of her celebrity friends. Natasha Lyonne commented, “Cutie,” while Gwyneth Paltrow added, “Look at that FACE.” It was also a walk down memory lane for America Ferrera, who let Witherspoon know that she loved The Man in the Moon “sooooo much!!!” Other fans couldn’t resist drawing comparisons between Witherspoon and her daughter, Ava Phillippe, even though the Morning Show star recently said on Today that they “don’t see [the resemblance] that much.”
Witherspoon was already one to watch in her first movie, as the Seventeen spread shows. Though much of the text didn’t fit in her photo, it is possible to read, “These three actors really shine in the touching film The Man in the Moon.” She’s been working ever since and carved out a space for herself behind the camera, too.
“I didn’t always feel like I had any agency … an ability to effect change,” she said on Today on Oct. 4, explaining how she built her production company, Hello Sunshine. “But then as I got a little bit older, I started looking around at the parts for women; they just weren’t good enough. And I read a lot, so I started optioning books. … I’m going to make my own opportunities.”
The multihyphenate even tapped into that same “mess into success” energy to write a children’s book, Busy Betty, which is based on her creative and adventurous younger self and came out on Oct. 4. As she said, you never know what’s next!
