Earlier this week, we wrote about some sage divorce advice given by actress Anna Kendrick, whose parents divorced when she was a teenager. America’s fascination with celebrity divorce drama is most often just a form of voyeuristic entertainment. But every once in a while celebrities prove to be good role models for coping with divorce and maintaining a positive sense of self.
Recently, actress Reese Witherspoon publicly shared her own story of how divorce has impacted her career. Her story is a reminder that the consequences of divorce can reach into many aspects of our lives, but that it does not have to permanently define us.
Witherspoon’s film career was in high gear in 2006, when she won an Oscar for the film “Walk The Line.” Less than a year later, however, she went through a divorce from her husband, with whom she has two children.
The split was relevant to her fans because it may have been responsible for a several-year “career slump,” in which she made a string of unpopular movies. Witherspoon says that after divorce, “I spent a few years just trying to feel better. You can’t really be very creative when you feel like your brain is scrambled eggs.”
She also said that the movies she did during her post-divorce years were not ones she was passionate about. Instead, she was “just kind of working.” The good news is that since 2012, Reese Witherspoon has been taking on projects that she is excited about and has more control over. As a result, she has been receiving considerable critical acclaim of late.
If you are currently going through a divorce or have already experienced one, you can probably relate to Witherspoon’s work difficulties. Few of us have the luxury of taking time off of work to grieve, to spend time with our children and to essentially start over. And if your divorce is mentally and emotionally consuming (and many are), it can greatly affect the quality and quantity of work you produce.
Thankfully, things don’t always have to stay this way. If you can find the support you need to keep going during divorce, you can have faith that things will get better sooner or later.
Source: Fox News, “Reese Witherspoon blames career slump on divorce,” Dec. 24, 2014
