It's undeniable that Reese Witherspoon has been incredibly successful at leveraging her fame into an entire brand that's completely outside her film and television career. In 2021, she sold her production company Hello Sunshine for $900 million, and she recently made another big payday by selling a 70 percent stake in her fashion and lifestyle brand Draper James to Consortium Brand Partners. That led some outlets to report that she had officially reached billionaire status, but according to Witherspoon herself, that isn't true.
Witherspoon spoke with Zinhle Essamuah on NBC News Daily about reports that she had become a billionaire, taking the time to deny their accuracy. "I didn't," she said in response to the question of whether she had become a billionaire. "They're wrong."
But Witherspoon doesn't seem too upset about people thinking she's reached the billionaire elite:
"That's enormously flattering and if I ever touched the bottom of whatever Oprah's magic golden boots do, I would be so lucky."
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Witherspoon went on to explain that even though she's not (yet) a billionaire, she has reached a level of not having to sweat over what other people might think about her behavior:
"I really don't care what anybody thinks. I'm gonna do my work anyway. I'm gonna date whoever I want, go hang out with a friend nobody likes. When you release that feeling of other people's opinions crushing you or holding you down, you're free. You're totally free."
Witherspoon citing Oprah Winfrey as an aspiration to what she has tried to do in business makes sense given the way she's made herself into an all-encompassing lifestyle brand. She even started her own book club in much the same vein as Oprah's Book Club. But, according to the actress herself, she still has a way to go before she becomes one of Oprah's fellow billionaires.
