Reese Witherspoon admitted that she was caught off guard when her ex-husband, Ryan Phillippe, did a trick on how she earned more money than him during the 2002 Oscars.
The couple – who broke up in 2006 – won the Oscar for Best Makeup when 44-year-old Witherspoon asked if he could read the winner, to which 46-year-old Phillippe replied: “You do more than me. Go ahead.”
She laughed and appeared shocked by the comment before reading “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” as the winner.
“I forgot it ever happened,” Witherspoon said on Friday on the “HFPA in conversation” podcast. “He said that and no, it was not written. He didn’t tell me he would say that before it happened in the air. So, I was a little confused right now. ”
Witherspoon, who shares two children, 21-year-old Ava and 17-year-old Deacon with Big Sky, added: “There are so few women who make a lot of money that they are sometimes ashamed to this and sometimes he expects to offer more, to do more and to be more than others in the same position where a male movie star would not be expected and this is just the double standard that exists in our society. ”
However, she said that gender norms have changed a lot in the last 20 years since she remarked and that more women make money and have these conversations about money.
“Women need to talk about money and how they made money and not be ashamed,” she continued.
Witherspoon also said that when Ava was in second grade, she came home embarrassed because someone at school said that her mother was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood.
“I told her, ‘You’re never ashamed that a woman makes money.’ There are women all over the world who have no opportunity, no education or ability to make money, ”Witherspoon recalled. “You never feel bad because your mother makes money and you never feel bad if you make money and you don’t feel embarrassed or ashamed if she is more than your partner.”
Witherspoon and Phillippe met at the 21-year-old Morning Show in 1997. They dated in 1999 and broke up in 2006. Witherspoon married talent agent Jim Toth in 2011 and -welcomed his son, Tennessee, in 2012. Phillippe has a 9-year-old daughter with former Alexis Knapp.