Reese Witherspoon: 'Run away from men who can't handle your ambition'

The Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe winner speaks truth to power.

Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon has always embraced ambition and encouraged other women to do so.

In 2015, as Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year, she had -- in a speech that went viral -- said, 'I believe ambition is not a dirty word.'

And she lives by those words every day.

Glamour magazine notes, 'Two years later, Witherspoon has doubled down on her ambition to create work that moves the needle for women.' 

Big Little Lies, the HBO miniseries she produced and starred in, racked up 16 Emmy nominations and swept the Emmy Awards. It also won the Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television at the Golden Globes.

The magazine adds, 'She's starring in two movies, Home Again, in theaters now, and A Wrinkle in Time, out next year, both directed by women. With her production company, Pacific Standard, and new multimedia company, Hello Sunshine, Wither­spoon wants to capitalize on the demand for women's stories and tell them in every single medium: TV, film, and online.'

And some very wise folks over at Glamour decided it was time for another 'pep talk' on female ambition from Witherspoon, and she delivered a powerful one in the magazine's October issue.

The 5 most powerful quotes from her heartfelt essay:

1

Run away from a man who can’t handle your ambition. So many men think ambition is sexy.

2

If you are one of those people who has that little voice in the back of her mind saying, “Maybe I could do [fill in the blank],” don’t tell it to be quiet. Give it a little room to grow, and try to find an environment it can grow in. 

3

As moms, we have a unique opportunity to keep changing this attitude that ambition is an ugly quality in women. That it makes you unlikeable. What is likeable anyway? I’m allergic to that word. (Personally, I like to sit next to the most irreverent person at a party…that’s what I find likeable!) We have to do our part to change the idea that a woman with passion and ambition is out only for herself. So talk to your kids about ambition as a positive trait in men and women. 

4

And when your ambition pays off, I encourage you to give your sisters a little goose out the door by helping to nurture their ambitions.

5

What would happen if we encouraged all women to be a little more ambitious? I think the world would change.