The Nashville native opens up to Julia Reed about family, her favorite hometown foods, and the Southern women who have inspired her every step of the way.
REESE WITHERSPOON HAS BEEN VERY, VERY BUSY.
Not only did she star in one of the most buzzed about TV shows of 2017, HBO’s Big Little Lies, but her production company, Pacific Standard, brought the project to fruition. In May, Draper James, the phenomenally successful clothing and accessories line Witherspoon launched in 2015, announced a collaboration with designer website Net-a-Porter—as well as a partnership with Nordstrom, which will carry exclusive pieces from the line. A new Draper James boutique in Lexington, Kentucky, recently joined a stable that already included locations in Nashville (Witherspoon’s hometown) and Dallas, and another brick-and mortar store is set to open in Atlanta this fall.
On top of all that, she and agent husband Jim Toth preside over a brood that includes three dogs and three kids: Ava, who’ll turn 18 this month, and Deacon, 14, (her children with actor Ryan Phillippe) and Tennessee (their son together), who’ll turn 5 this month. Though they have a house in Los Angeles, Witherspoon is also renovating a home in Nashville with the help of L.A. decorator Mark D. Sikes (he designed the Draper James stores) and Nashville-based architect Catherine Tracy Sloan. “She’s great, and I love Mark’s style because it’s fresh and young,” she says.
Witherspoon is clearly comfortable wearing a lot of different hats. When I walk into Farmshop in Santa Monica, California’s Brentwood Country Mart, where we meet for breakfast, she’s deep in conversation with Steve Kloves, whom she happened to run into. The Austin, Texas-born Kloves adapted Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys for the big screen and wrote all but one of the Harry Potter screenplays. “I’m working on another project, and I want him to do it,” the actress explains.
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Forging a Legacy - A Fredericksburg, Texas, couple is creating a new class of heirloom cast-iron cookware
When Jay Mallinckrodt pitched the idea of crafting cast-iron cookware to his wife and business partner, Heather, in 2020, she was hesitant. I immediately said no, she recalls with a laugh. But I finally agreed as long as we made something that we would actually want to use ourselves. Like many others during the initial throes of the pandemic, their multigenerational family operation, Heartland Enterprises (which specializes in machining parts for jet engines and gas and oil equipment), was seeing a lull. “No one was flying; no one was drilling, says Jay. So we had time to try something different.
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Oktober Feast!
While I respect your right to serve spooky food in October, you won't find any gory grub at my house this month. Instead, I'm hosting a gathering that's inspired by biergartens across the pond. The focus of the menu is a fondue made with Gruyère cheese and crisp Riesling-like beer-cheese dip but more elevated. It's served with a smorgasbord of dippers such as smoked sausage, grapes, apples, and a few amped-up store-bought snacks, like Mustard-Glazed Pretzel Bites and Smoked Paprika Potato Chips. (Just one taste, and you'll want to add this spice to every bag you open.) Pour yourself a Cider Shandy, and get ready for a good time. Prost, y'all!
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