Entertainment

Reese Witherspoon Produced A New Podcast That's All About Championing Women's Stories

by Nathan Diller
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

From producing movies and TV shows to running a book club, Reese Witherspoon is an entertainment mogul in the making, and she's adding another credit to her résumé. On Wednesday, Witherspoon announced she's producing a new podcast, Entertainment Weekly reported.

The podcast, How It Is, is the first from Witherspoon and her company Hello Sunshine. The episodes will focus on various women, from celebrities to lesser-known names, as they share their stories. Hosted by actor and author Diane Guerrero (known for her work on Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin), How It Is will feature women like Tarana Burke, the activist who coined the phrase at the center of the #MeToo movement; Glennon Doyle, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling book, Love Warrior; and Lena Waithe, an actor and screenwriter who became the first black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing for her work on Master of None, among others — including Witherspoon herself.

Witherspoon also took to social media to share the news with her followers. The actor posted a video on Instagram from a set in California, where she's filming Season 2 of her hit HBO show, Big Little Lies.

In the clip, Witherspoon described the podcast as "interviews with the most amazing women about every topic you want to talk about," and her followers immediately commented and voiced their excitement.

One user wrote, "Very cool...keep rising and consolidating women... and congratulations on your company and first power podcast," with a smiling emoji. Another added, "Yess!! Just what I need. Thank you for leading the way for #womeninfilm. Subscribing now!"

Someone else echoed that sentiment, writing, "Signed up. Love the first episode! Very exciting. Stories, narrative can change the world. We've been living in a narrative given to us by men for too long! Thanks for this."

Guerrero also posted a photo of herself and Witherspoon on Instagram, writing in the caption, "This was such an incredible experience for me to work with such incredible WOMEN and I am very proud of this podcast!"

According to EW, Sarah Harden, the CEO of Hello Sunshine, said in a statement:

"We are proud to bring these powerful and relatable stories from a wide variety of incredible women to life and to be expanding the Hello Sunshine brand to the podcast medium where we look forward to connecting with listeners on important topics and compelling stories."

The first season's topics are inspired by the Time's Up and #MeToo movements, and the women will discuss subjects like anger, freedom, finding your voice, and owning your power, according to Hello Sunshine's website.

Witherspoon has become an advocate for amplifying female voices and championing exciting work done by women. Through her book club Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine, the star has chosen titles like Happiness, a memoir about love, life, and parenting a sick child, by Heather Harpham, and Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, a novel about the daughter of Indian immigrants living in London and trying to distance herself from her traditional upbringing.

She also announced in March that she and Scandal star Kerry Washington will be bringing Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng to the small-screen as a limited series. The story follows the chain of events leading up to a house fire in Ohio in the 1990s.

With How It Is, Witherspoon is helping to offer more women a platform to speak their truths, and as Hello Sunshine said in a statement, treating them "as experts on their own lives, claiming their power by telling their stories," according to EW. The first two episodes are available now.