January 2025 is almost over and this month has been a F-CK. Monsters in power, disasters and destruction, and a lot of celebrity gossip but, like, not really the fun kind – sorry but sexual harassment and counter lawsuits that set off right-wing pile-ons and wild and crazy conspiracy theories that approach QAnon levels of absurdity aren’t my idea of good gossip.
So Reese Witherspoon has entered the chat with the exactly the kind of gossip that we need – it’s self-driven, so the source is impeccable; it’s an easy riddle, so there’s a game with a quick solution; it’s girl sh-t but not misogynistic; and nobody loses here because nobody’s punching up or down. Everybody wins!
Here’s what had happened, in case you missed it: Reese is currently promoting You’re Cordially Invited with Will Ferrell. They did an interview for PEOPLE in which they ask each other the questions. The entire video is below, but the gossipy part starts around the 2 minute mark when they talk about wedding mishaps and they each share a story about something stupid that they’ve done or seen at a wedding. Will’s story is hilarious, BTW. He was at a wedding and put his hand up when they ask if there’s anyone who objects to this marriage, all like “I love you, Carol!” But the bride’s name was Barbara, LOOOOOLLLLL.
And then Reese jumps in to ask if Will has ever given a speech that he regrets which is when Reese recounts the time she presented an award to a friend, at the time, and approached it like a roast but the tone was all wrong for the event. It’s better when you watch it to hear her tone and the way she remembers it in real time.
JustJared has figured out that it’s Kate Winslet. Reese presented to Kate at the BAFTA/LA Cunard Brittania Awards in November 2007 and the “laser hair removal” joke that Reese references with Will was part of her remarks at that event.
This also tracks because, well, BAFTA people are generally tight asses so I can see why Reese’s approach might not have played well in that room. That said, it makes Kate look kinda humourless … which is surprising because she’s known to be pretty fun, bawdy at times. The Holiday, for example, has become a favourite holiday movie and she and Cameron Diaz on that press tour were delightful together, like girls being silly giggly girls, with probably all kind of nasty inside jokes – which, for any of us who have girlfriends, is probably relatable.
The way Reese is describing the situation, though, she’s making it sound like Kate has a stick up her ass and broke up with her because she didn’t know how to have any fun. Which adds a whole other layer of Photo Assumption to this shot of them at that event – it’s Kate’s expression, like she’s been haunted, LOLOLOLOL.
Photo Assumption, as we know, isn’t always reliable. Because in this picture Kate looks less… mortified:
Still, Reese is the one who put this out there – that they don’t talk anymore, implying that she was ghosted over that speech. And it’s not like anyone was sitting around thinking… oh, I wonder if there’s any beef between these two Oscar winners?
Like I said, self-inflicted! But also, low stakes! Two Oscar winners, nobody is an underdog, and it could go one of two ways…
Kate hears Reese’s call out and they get back together, and end up being paired to present at the Oscars, at which point we’ll have an update to this story – Reese knows all about sequels! – or Kate takes further offence that Reese just used her to sell her new movie. Which way is this gonna go?
While we’re here, though, and speculating about what may or may not have caused their rift, beyond Reese not being able to read the room, literally, at an industry event, maybe… ummmmm… Kate just found Reese’s brand of cool girl-mean girl-good girl annoying? For me it’s the “oh my gosh” of it all.
If you watch that PEOPLE interview above in its entirety, Reese drops an “oh my gosh” right off the top. And maybe it’s just my personal bugaboo but the “oh my gosh” girls are almost always full of sh-t. I might buy it from Jennifer Garner but I definitely do not buy it from Reese Witherspoon, not when we’ve all seen the dash cam footage of her “do you know my name”-ing a police officer when she and her then-husband were pulled over for drinking and driving.
There’s a delicious bitch inside of Reese – the very same delicious bitch who was telling stories about how deliciously dirty she and Kate could be together – that I wish she would let out more often. After all, she’s tight with Jennifer Aniston (also an “oh my gosh” girl) and that whole crowd. And we all know how much gossip is served when they all get together over chardonnay and vegan dips. Maybe that’s the hypocrisy that Kate was looking for an excuse to cut out of her life?
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