Reese Witherspoon opens up about being 'assaulted, harassed' as a child actor: 'Bad things happened to me'

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Reese Witherspoon is opening up about her experience as a child actress.

The 43-year-old performer and producer spoke to Vanity Fair for its April issue and was asked about children working in an “adult world.”

"Bad things happened to me. I was assaulted, harassed. It wasn't isolated,” she said.

"I recently had a journalist ask me about it," Witherspoon continued. "She said, ‘Well, why didn't you speak up sooner?’ And I thought, that's so interesting to talk to someone who experienced those things and then judge them for the way they decide to speak about them. You tell your story in your own time when you're ready. But the shame that she tried to put on me was unreal, and then she wrote about how selfish I was for not bringing it up sooner."

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The "Little Fires Everywhere" star, who is a studio owner in her right, has been one of many female voices at the center of the #MeToo movement and reflected on the time that has elapsed since she made her foray into acting.

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"There wasn't a public reckoning 25 years ago when this stuff happened to me," Witherspoon said. "There wasn't a forum to speak about it either.

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"Social media has created a new way for people to express themselves that I didn't have," she explained. "That's the great strength in power and numbers. I think we have a lot of judgment and that's unfortunate because we're all tenderfooted in these new times."

Witherspoon said we are all "trying to find our identity."