Meet Her Father John & Mother Betty

Reese Witherspoon has had the unwavering support of her parents.

The Oscar-winning actress was born on March 22, 1976, to dad John Draper Witherspoon and mom Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Witherspoon. Although they are not in the TV and film industry, Reese said John and Betty have always been supportive of her career.

“I had parents who believed I could do anything, and I know how that made me feel,” she told Marie Claire in 2008. “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.”

The Big Little Lies actress admitted she “had to struggle giving up the idea of becoming a doctor” herself, deciding not to follow in her parents’ footsteps.

Scroll down to learn more about Reese’s parents, John and Betty.

A 2002 Vanity Fair interview with Reese mentioned that John and Betty first met when they were students at the University of Tennessee in Nashville.

Reese shared, “You wonder where all my drive comes from? My dad scored a perfect score on his S.A.T.’s and a perfect score on his MCATS, and graduated at the top of his class from Yale. My mom has five or six degrees. My brother [John] and I both went to college, but neither one of us graduated.”

John and Betty got married during a 1970 ceremony. They went on to welcome two children and raised them in Nashville.

“I grew up in Nashville and my parents taught me to respect my elders,” she told People in 2009. “We’d say things like ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘no, sir’ to adults. But kids in Los Angeles don’t do that.”

During a 2021 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Reese recalled preparing dinner and doing chores with her brother as their mom worked night shifts and weekends.

“Being raised by a nurse, I think my mother has such infinite compassion,” she said, later adding, “She was so tired, but she just loved her patients.”

The Morning Show actress continued, “I’ve watched my mother save people’s lives. Whether it was saving a kid from drowning, she helped her very best friend had a bad accident when we were very little — and I watched her resuscitate her on the side of a highway… There is so much we don’t focus and highlight on the people who do that hard difficult work of saving lives.”

Reese’s parents were both in the medical field, with John becoming a surgeon and Betty — who has a Ph.D. in pediatric nursing — working as a nurse.

According to the mom-of-three, she “learned a lot about hard work” from her mother.

“She was a nurse for 35 years and a teacher,” she said in a 2017 interview with Southern Living. “And, you know, just loving what you do makes a job not feel like a job. She taught me to have a passion for my interests and to work into those interests.”

John and Betty separated in 1996, 26 years after their 1970 nuptials. They never filed for divorce.

As OK! reported, news of their split surfaced in 2012 when Betty sued John, with whom she is still legally married, for bigamy following his apparent marriage to a woman named Tricianne Taylor in January of that year.

“I love my husband and I don’t want a divorce,” Betty said in the affidavit. “We have been married 42 years. He needs help.”

Reese’s mother added in the documents, “When I confronted my husband, he said he didn’t know who Tricianne Taylor was and that he did not remember getting married.”

Furthermore, Betty alleged her husband may have dementia and other health problems.

Years after the civil petition was filed, Betty disclosed to Women’s Day that they had reconciled.

Although Reese did not pursue a career in the medical field, she said her parents supported her choices in life — including the time she took acting classes.

“My parents were always incredibly supportive,” she told Vanity Fair. “They thought it was a hobby for the first four years.”

Reese gave her parents a heartfelt shout-out after winning her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line in 2006.

“My mother and my father are here,” she told the crowd. “I just want to say thank you so much for everything, for being so proud of me. It didn’t matter if I was making my bed or making a movie, they never hesitated to say how proud they were of me, and that means so very much to a child. So thank you Mom and Dad.”

On August 7, multiple news outlets reported that Reese’s father had been hospitalized following a fall at his Nashville home.

A spokesperson for Nashville Metro Emergency Communications confirmed they had received a call about an unconscious man at 4 p.m. local time. The man, who was not identified in the statement, was transported to a nearby hospital.

The Water for Elephants star shared an update via Instagram Stories, writing, “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. It means the world to our family.”