Reese Witherspoon admits that she combats fear 'all the time'

Reese Witherspoon attends Tiffany & Co. 2017 Blue Book Collection Celebration at St. Ann's Warehouse on Friday, April 21, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

Reese Witherspoon often feels afraid.

In a new interview with Marie Claire, the actress opened up about her insecurities and how she copes with the "little creature" she calls fear.

“I see [fear] as this little creature that lives in my life all the time, and I can either pay it attention and not get anything done or I can march ahead and ignore it,” Witherspoon said. “Sometimes I just have to jump two feet into a cold pool and go, ‘OK, I believe in myself enough, I know I work hard. I know I can always bet on myself."

(Marie Claire)

Over the past few months, the "Wrinkle In Time" actress has been vulnerable after revealing to the world that she was sexually assaulted by a director while on the set of the film when she was 16 years old.

“I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly and I find it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate a lot of the feelings that I’ve been having about anxiety, honest, the guilt for not speaking up earlier," Witherspoon told women at the annual Elle Women in Hollywood back in October. “[I feel] true disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment."

Following her revelation, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the actress sat down with fellow stars Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Tracee Ellis Ross and Shonda Rhimes to discuss Time's Up and being a woman in Hollywood on CBS "Sunday Morning."

Witherspoon spoke to her friend and "Wrinkle In Time" co-star, Oprah, and said, "As you can see I'm very emotional about it but I keep going back. Somebody sent me this Elie Wiesel quote that said, 'Silence helps the tormentors. It doesn't help the tormented, and neutrality helps the oppressors not the oppressed.' And there's moments that you have to evaluate whether silence is going to be your only option and in certain times that was our only option, but now is not that time."

Currently, Witherspoon is in the process of returning to television in her highly anticipated show with long-time friend Jennifer Aniston.

“It’s a show about women in media – the morning news in particular,” she explained to Marie Claire.

According to People, the upcoming show, which is produced by both actresses, is slated to be one first shows produced by Apple and will be Aniston's first return to the small screen since her hit '90s comedy, "Friends," where Witherspoon guest-starred as Aniston's little sister.